


Ghosts Amongst These Hills

by poptartkittywoman



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Twilight Series - Stephenie Meyer
Genre: Cedric Diggory Lives, Crossover Pairings, F/F, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-26
Updated: 2019-01-28
Packaged: 2019-02-21 23:14:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 35,092
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13154058
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/poptartkittywoman/pseuds/poptartkittywoman
Summary: Eight years after the Battle of Hogwarts, Cho Chang started anew in the United States and found herself in Forks, Washington. It was the last place she expected to see Cedric Diggory - still alive.





	1. Owls

_“You should go to the Pacific Northwest!_ _I hear America’s absolutely bonkers, you should go visit,” the clearly zonked worker at Second-Hand Bookshop said._ “ _Find yourself in nature by the sea.”_

 “I’m finding myself, alright,” Cho murmured to herself.

She lowered her sleeping mask back over her eyes. The sun was piercing through the clouds outside her window. She’d lowered her window shade, but the flight attendant forced it back open while Cho was still half-awake.

“Bitch,” Cho muttered.

She could’ve easily remained in Ireland with her parents and viewed the plentiful moors and cliffsides there if she hadn’t already done so every summer throughout her formative years. She had already found herself in nature—open and free and blown about by gusts of change.

But Cho was tired of herself.

 _What about the Ministry, Cho?_ she remembered her mother, desperate, asking. _You know you have a brilliant future here and can make a difference. Do the right thing and stay here._

She _was_ doing the right thing this very moment, buckled up in her economy seat. (She couldn’t slash _all_ her money and savings on first class; that was what parchment and quills were for.)

After doing her own research on the Pacific Northwest, Cho had decided that more mountains and fewer politics sounded ideal. _Evanesco_ her past and start anew. Her father (who was surprisingly more supportive of Cho’s life-change) had a Muggle friend from university living in Washington state, in a town that supposedly fit Cho’s requirements.

_“Forks? Like...forks and knives?” she asked over the phone incredulously._

_"Yes ma’am, that’s the name,” said Jason Jenks, a local attorney and friend of Cho’s father. “Forks: population under 4,000 and plenty of forested campsites nearby and a beach a couple hours away. Perfect small town. If you need any help getting your bearings, let me know.”_

Cho shrugged. If a town named after eating irons was the answer to her new life, then Cho couldn’t complain. This plane couldn’t land fast enough.

* * *

 

 

“Miss, may I ask what _these_ are in your luggage?”

Cho pressed her dry lips together. She should’ve realized this would happen...after the _first time_ she got pulled aside by TSA at her connecting flight. (And she thought New Orleans was supposed to be an American safe-haven for witches...or was it vampires...?)

“A wand. And a broom.” Cho smiled politely. “Is there a problem, ma’am?”

The TSA agent looked at her briefly as if she’d spoken in fluent Latin. “Are you attending some kind of…cosplay convention?” the middle-aged woman asked.

There was no way in seven hells Cho was going to leave her two prized possessions indefinitely in her parents’ house. (Who knows where it might end up with her mother’s yearly rage-cleaning sprees.) Her wand was like another part of her body; her broom, her own pair of wings. She’d guard them even if it meant fighting Death Eaters again, or worse, lying through her teeth.

“No, these are family heirlooms that I brought along with me—see here? That’s our family name engraved in the wood. Yes, I’m Chinese...but I came from Ireland—hence the accent, ahah. The wand was handcrafted from hazelwood by a traditional wandmaker, and it’s said to have unicorn hair embedded in it. My mother avidly studied all things occult since before I was born, and she gifted these to me. I’m planning to move here on a work visa, so I brought some personal belongings to start decorating my flat. I have certification for both of these items, ma’am, if you need to see them.”

And that’s how a Ravenclaw got around Muggle airport security.

* * *

 

Three hours, a shuttle ride, and many a winding, wooded road later, Cho arrived.

_“I have a family of clients who rent out a cottage to visitors. I can contact them for you,” Jason mentioned over the phone._

She checked the address again written on a piece of parchment and looked again. This small house off the road would be her temporary home until she could find a flat of her own. But by the gorgeous look of this quaint cottage she was willing to buy it off the landlords’ hands.

_“Dr. and Mrs. Cullen - exceptionally warm people - and their children, too. Well, they’re all adults practically, they just graduated from Forks High. Heck one of their kids just got married! Crazy, right? Anyway, Esme - the Mrs. - usually drops by and cooks breakfast. Are you a morning person, Cho?”_

“Not today, I’m not. Son of a biscuit, I might just hibernate,” Cho sighed to herself. It was only around 7 P.M. local time, but her body felt like a deadweight past midnight; the day’s worth of travel was catching up to her. _Fancy some breakfast for dinner, though._

The woodside house somehow exuded both welcome and mystery, like a modern fairytale cottage. Its slate stone walls and tall chimney reminded her of this one teahouse along Diagon Alley, but with much sharper, newer angles. Some vines had started to embrace its side and encroach the small but inviting front porch. And the pathway leading to the porch even had small, modern lamps lining the way, no doubt powered by electricity if they were switched on.

But no one seemed to be home.

 _As if there was going to be a welcoming committee on your arrival,_ she thought. _That’s just how B &B’s work this side of the pond._

Cho schlepped her luggage around to the back. She wished she could just _levitate_ them to the door instead… But a small price to pay for her new life.

The key was inside a lockbox by the back door. Thankfully, Esme herself had given her the code via email. (Cho could use her father’s old Apple desktop for a few minutes at a time before the screen started to glitch and the whole thing threatened to freeze for good.)

But much to Cho’s surprise, Esme had also left a note inside the lockbox along with the key. It was the most elegantly written script Cho had ever seen, even compared to other meticulous classmates’ handwriting. 

 

 

> _Dear Cho,_
> 
> _Had to take care of a family emergency, but I will come by in the morning. Until then, hope you feel right at home. There’s a fully stocked fridge, toiletries, and free Wi-Fi._
> 
>   _Can’t wait to meet you!_
> 
>   _—Esme_

 

“What is with Muggles’ obsession with Wi-Fi?” Cho asked aloud while she fiddled with the key.

Sure enough, it somehow did feel like home. Old, Persian rugs on the hardwood flooring, dim, yellow lighting from a vintage floor lamp in the living room, and one grandfather of a leather armchair and matching couch all greeted her eyes. The kitchenette did not disappoint, with a large, silver metal refrigerator, wide open countertop, and a pristine gas stove. And to top it all off, the running motif of house decor in this B&B seemed to be…

“Owls?” Cho grinned.

It felt like a cosmic joke. And she laughed. Did they _know_? Would she be paid a visit by the Ministry of Magic after all? She kept chuckling, amused, all the way to her bedroom.

There was a porcelain owl-shaped biscuit jar with bright yellow painted eyes. Little owl statuettes lined the mantel shelf above the ancient fireplace in the living room. A diagram of various types of owls hung in the hallway, right outside the bathroom. (Even the bloody soap dispenser was a bronze owl.) And a painting of a winter landscape, with the smallest snowy owl nearly hidden in its white paint strokes, hung above the headboard of the wooden, four-post bed in her new bedroom.

“I’ll be counting owls in my sleep…” she mumbled.

The faded blue quilt and gray pillows appeared extra soft to Cho. She barely remembered getting into bed - she might as well have floated and fallen into a blue gray sea of bedsheets.

A half dream weaved in and out of her vision: her old owl from Hogwarts… flitting outside her window... She could almost hear it pecking at the glass… Oh, how she missed the feathery creature.

* * *

 

Faint voices echoed, as if they were a room away.

 _“You do know her.”_ It wasn’t a question, but an accusation. The first voice.

A sharp _tsk!_ soon followed it. _“It doesn’t matter.”_ A second voice.

Footsteps creaked against the wood floor.

 _“Your face is unusually emotive right now,”_ the first voice said, _“and not just from the...rather lovely scent, if you ask me.”_

Silence.

Cho stirred. Her cheek pressed against her pillow. She felt herself shiver.

 _“Jet lagged.”_ The first voice was louder, but still quiet—a young woman’s. _“Poor thing.”_

The second voice, which was deeper, almost a whisper said, _“Even when she’s sleeping she’s still…”_ The faintest chuckle echoed—dry, almost bitter, out of disbelief.

Cho felt the quilt cover her body. A sigh, practically a purr, escaped her lips.

 _“She’s the least of our worries right now,”_ the young woman said. _“There’s more_ growing _matters at home...”_

The voices slowly became quieter and quieter until Cho drifted back to sleep.

* * *

 

Sausages. Cho smelled sausages. And eggs.

“Mummm?” she slurred, half awake. It truly smelled like home.

And buttered rice? Or was it biscuits? With a hint of...blueberries?

The desire to know what delicious fare was cooking in the kitchen eventually convinced her to get out of bed. The clock on the wall only read a quarter past 6 a.m. Bright white from the morning sky flooded through her window and lit her aegean blue walls.

A quick shower, a swill of breath potion, and fresh clothes made her feel a little less jet-lagged. She was about to pull open her bedroom door (Had she closed her door the night before? She couldn’t remember...) when there was a knock on the door.

“Cho?” A muffled, calm voice of an older woman.

Cho gasped. “Yes?”

“May I come in?”

She was pretty sure who it was...not enough to allay her paranoia, but enough to ultimately let her in. Cho knew where her wand was if need be.

“Absolutely,” Cho answered. She turned the knob before she could change her mind.

A pair of golden hazel eyes, flowing light brown hair, and a porcelain smile greeted her.

Cho was nearly stupefied by the sight of her.

“Please, forgive me if I disturbed you,” the woman apologized with a hand over her chest. “I wanted to check on you before the muffins were done. You must be starving.”

 _Good god, it’s too early for anyone to look this gorgeous..._ “And _you_ must be Esme.”

Esme laughed. “I can’t stay for too long, but I’d love to join you for breakfast.”

* * *

 

Esme’s topaz eyes contemplated her half-empty mug of water she cradled in her hands.

“I don’t get very many opportunities to cook at home, actually,” she answered. “We all—” She paused, scoffed, and glanced at the owl biscuit jar to her left. “Well, _they_ all like to eat out most of the time. Back when I was growing up in the Midwest, my mother used to prepare the most sumptuous meals for us—the quality and love she poured into them, I can only aspire to recreate. So it’s nice to know there’s an extra outlet to...extend some hospitality and at least one full meal to someone in need,” she said, a modest smile in her eyes. “And to _someone_ who appreciates a home-cooked meal,” she added.

The two shared another laugh.

“So why owls?” Cho asked, sipping her tea from her owl-patterned mug.

Esme shrugged, clearly suppressing yet another laugh. “They’re my favorite, what can I say?” Her lips daintily touched her own mug for another sip. “I feel a certain affinity for them… Nocturnal creatures, resourceful foragers, symbols of wisdom, and, at least the female owls, they're fiercely protective and provident to their young.” She sat, relaxed, with an elbow against the countertop. “At least I’d like to think I’ve approaching that level of...hospitality?” She made a face reserved for failed analogies, but shrugged it off and smiled to herself. “Like I said, what can I say?”

“I more than appreciate your hospitality,” Cho said, “and your blueberry muffins are divine.”

“Why thank you,” Esme said. She sipped at her water again; she held her mug with an amount of grace deserving of a holy grail. “They must taste even better with all that jam you’re adding on top of it. My, my.”

Cho peeked into the small glass jar: did she really go through so much jam? It was only a tad bigger than a sample-size jar, but nonetheless... “Gosh, I’m sorry, I can buy another at the grocer’s if you’d like…”

“Nooo no, it’s alright, I’m glad you feel at home,” Esme said. “A girl loves her jam, nothing wrong with that. Enjoy life’s little indulgences...” Her face then lit up, then she smiled warmly. “That reminds me of a time, when I was a teenager, I first broke my leg trying to pick the most delectable apple for myself, when I was supposed to be helping my mother pick them for preserves….”

Something about the Earl Grey tea, the rich sausage and egg-in-a-hole breakfast, or perhaps simply something about Esme put her at ease. She felt at home, but not the same feeling of home of Dublin, or even the home of Hogwarts. Like a brand new knitted jumper fitting just right.

“You said this was your mother’s recipe?” Cho asked. She took another hearty, hearty bite.

Esme sighed, her smile slowly eclipsed by a more wistful look. “The secret Platt family recipe,” she said. “Passed down from generation to generation. Feels like a few lifetimes ago I first tried it.”

Cho sipped some tea to chase her morsel. “You certainly followed it to the letter,” she said. “I’d love a copy of it!”

“Oh.” Esme laid her mug down and rose from the dining counter. “Before I forget. I noticed there was already mail in your mailbox, so I brought it in for you.” She walked over to an end table by the front door, where two small envelopes awaited her. Esme picked them up and shook them in her hand—something small but heavy slid inside one of the. “Oh, a package? Your loved ones must miss you already.”

Cho stopped in mid-chew, then forced herself to swallow her bite and acknowledge that yes, in fact, she did leave people behind in her quest for a fresh start, and when worded by an outsider-looking-in, it was suddenly difficult to enjoy the rest of her breakfast.

Esme rested a hand on Cho’s shoulder. “Don’t let that deter you from pursuing what makes you happy, Cho. Let them miss you for a little while. It’ll make the reunion all the sweeter.”

Cho looked up from her breakfast. There was something in Esme’s eyes and reassuring hand that imparted a special kind of empathy she instantly felt in her veins.

“Thank you,” Cho said quietly.

* * *

 

It was nearly 8 a.m. and time for Esme to leave. The aforementioned family emergency was still ongoing.

“My daughter-in-law, Bella, has been terribly sick,” Esme mentioned, “so we’ve been taking turns looking after her.”

Cho gave her condolences. Esme would try to come back tomorrow to cook breakfast and would leave another note if something else came up. Cho looked forward to it.

Now, she sat alone.

The two envelopes still sat on the cleared counter. Not very many of her girlfriends from Hogwarts still talked to her, not since her sixth year… Esme had the heart to put the mail face down so Cho wouldn’t be distracted, but now she wished Esme had.

Cho picked them up, moved over to the armchair and settled in. Deep breaths. Then she flipped them over.

“Just as I feared,” she said wryly. The girl nodded to herself. “Dreadful.”

The first letter she opened was from Marietta. Cho’s attempts at stifling guffaws failed. Marietta was never the one to sugarcoat things, and her brand of snark treaded the fine line between offensive and downright side-splitting with a bitter dash of truth. So far, Cho wasn’t missing much from being one of many young clerks in the Ministry of Magic, other than former diehards of Umbridge getting their due comeuppance and the occasional conversation about Muggle “artifacts” with Arthur Weasley.

 

 

> _I’m rather impatient to send you a howler that will blowhorn across the entire United States how amazing of a person you are, Cho Chang. Forks will be flabbergasted but so lucky to have you. (Who the hell names a town after only_ _one_ _type of eating utensil??) If you need any bitch repelling charms, owl me. Can floo powder work transcontinentally? I forget._
> 
> _Kisses and wishes,_
> 
> _Marietta_
> 
> _P.S. If you are also in need of any pock mark fadeaway serum, I just perfected a new home brew for my own acne scars that won’t seem to die without a fight, no thanks to the new Mrs. Hermione Weasley. Those two deserve each other._

 

“You crazy witch,” she laughed. “Now...do I dare open this doofer over here?”

She felt the second piece of mail - a small, unidentified item inside a small envelope like Marietta’s - in both hands. Her fingers felt something hard, small, shaped like...a shield? And attached to a thing string...no, more like a chain…

A spark ignited in Cho’s mind.

She tore through the envelope, her fingers hurriedly pulling out the small note attached first, then dumping the envelope contents onto her lap.

Cho gulped.

She stared at everything. She stared and stared until the silence was too much to bear anymore. She shook her head. The letter, first.

 

 

> _Dearest Cho,_
> 
> _Greetings from your da and me. Hope you landed safely. There’s an entire network of owl mail stations, and thankfully send to the States. Don’t ask me how...the postal service is sometimes more mysterious than how the Ministry passes new decrees._
> 
> _But I digress. You seemed to have forgotten this in your haste to reinvent yourself._

 

Cho looked down at the Hufflepuff prefect badge on her lap. The faded badge was magically permanently affixed to a wearable silver chain necklace.

Cho gingerly picked up the relic of her adolescence. She cradled it in her hands. A thousand different emotions pierced her heart as if it were a pin cushion.

 

 

> _It was tucked all the way in the back of one of your vanity drawers, did you know that? Almost threw it out! Thought you would want it back, since I know how much he meant to you. You used to wear this all the time up until recently, so I wasn’t sure..._

 

“Damn you and your rage-cleanings,” Cho cursed. “Probably making my room into a greenhouse...”

She closed her fingers around that Hufflepuff prefect badge. Squeezed it. Held it against her chest like an old lover. Closed her eyes and furrowed her brow. When was the last time she’d laid her head against a lover’s chest? She suddenly envied the prefect badge. Now she just felt bonkers...trying to suppress the memories attached to this...old...Hufflepuff...prefect badge.

She couldn’t.

Her heart sank. The pin cushion in her chest felt more like a brick, pulling her into depths she hadn’t felt in a long time...

She slowly opened her eyes and caught sight of what was left on her lap.

A small photograph of her parents, actually waving at her with overly ecstatic smiles filling half their faces. She remembered on her first day at Hogwarts, they insisted on taking a picture of her in her uniform robes, but only under the stipulation that she take a picture of them before she left. The picture was crooked and ill-cropped, but it was still a perfect window into a literally moving moment. 

 

 

> _I took the liberty to include a photograph of your old folks, so you don’t forget what your old folks look like. Send us a photo soon!!!!!!!!! (maybe from Mt. St. Helens! If you can, ha ha.)_
> 
> _Love,_
> 
> _Mum & Da _

 

“Could she have added any more exclamation points?” Cho scoffed.

Cho’s mother was a special kind of humorous and strict that was both endearing and confusing. It kept Cho on her toes.

She brought her mail, her photograph, and the Hufflepuff prefect badge into her bedroom. With quick but careful hands, she tucked them into the drawer of her nightstand and shut the draw with an audible THUD!

Then her hand hesitated, unsure, over the nightstand drawer.

Her hand hovered for what felt like a whole minute.

Eventually, Cho reopened the drawer and, with great care, put on the necklace. The clasp was scratched and tarnished from so much wear, but somehow it still worked.

“I need to get out of here.”

* * *

 

She turned the key in the ignition.

 _Out of all the technology I magically destroy,_ please _let this be an exception,_ Cho thought while sweating bullets.

The engine roared to life and faded into a lively purr.

“Thank every and all gods!” Cho gripped the wheel. “Now _this_ is it!”

_“Consider the Volvo a rent-to-own gift!” Jason Jenks said over the phone. “I have not seen your dad since we were your age probably, and you were too small to remember, I think. It’s the least I can do.”_

_“I cannot thank you enough, Jason,” Cho sighed. “You have no idea how long I’ve wanted to spread my wings here.”_

_“Glad to hear it!” Jason sounded genuinely pleased. “Just be careful of the giant bears in the woods.”_

_“The_ what _now?”_

_“Ahahaha, I’m kidding. But you can never be too careful on these roads.”_

She couldn’t help but giggle. It was like opening up a new toy on Christmas morning, except this toy could take her around places she’d never been, without the conspicuousy of a broom (as much as she loved her Comet 260).

“Wonder if this baby can go off-road?” she thought aloud. _Probably not_ , she thought. But she definitely couldn’t wait to hug those long, winding, wooded roads.

It was the first day of her new life.

* * *

 

A few days later, she watched the strangers in the distance.

_“You met the rest of the Cullens yet?” Jason Jenks had asked her over the phone._

_“No, just Esme. She is quite a lovely breakfast date,” Cho replied._

There’s not going to be a meet-the-family party is there? she thought. I’m not dating one of their children, am I? Gosh, I’m terrible…

 _“I’m sure they’re_ all _lovely,” Cho continued. “Unless I’m wrong, of course.”_

_“They are, they are, in their own unique way. But, between you and me—one of their sons intimidates me. Not sure why. He seems older than he looks.”_

_Cho was vaguely intrigued. She’d seen her share of teenage creeps, both as a teen and now as a witch approaching 30..._

_“What does he look like, so I can avoid this delinquent?” she grinned._

_Jason paused; she heard some rummaging through paper and things in the background._

_“He’s, uh, blonde. Sometimes wavy hair. A bit on the short side. But it works out since one of his adopted sisters is nearly his height, and she’s_ very _short and they’re attached at the hip. But uh…I couldn’t tell you why. But everytime I see him, he puts me on. Edge.”_

Cho cursed under her breath from a lack of a more comprehensive description. The couple across the parking lot seemed to fit Jason’s description loosely at best. She leaned forward in her leather seat and peered through the windshield.

There was a petite, dark-haired young woman with large sunglasses. She was gesticulating along with some rather colourful ranting. Her bright red leather gloves created streaks of motion.

Next to her walked a young bloke with blonde, wavy hair on the shaggy side, with his hands stuffed in his coat pockets and his own pair of Ray Bans on his wan, emotionless face. He was maybe about half a head’s worth taller than her.

They both wore complementary shades of black, like two matching petite models in a magazine.

“This hayburner almost isn’t worth the fucking gas if I didn’t love it so much!” The young woman’s voice literally sounded like a half-fairy’s. She kept ranting about the pros and cons of a Porsche 911 with her pure ire packaged in such a childlike tone. Cho slapped her mouth shut from laughing.

 _She sure knows her onions about cars… Maybe it wouldn’t hurt to introduce myself,_ Cho thought. _Might as well start making friends with the people who are housing me...until I inevitably get sick and tired of social interaction after a few hours’ time and retreat to the cottage for a bath... But befriend them, I should. Maybe._

They were heading toward the same strip mall Cho had intended on visiting that day. It was home to a perfect triple threat of establishments: a record store, a used bookstore & cafe, and (much to Cho’s delight) a stationery shop. On the other side of the strip, there was also a sporting goods store called Newton’s Olympic Outfitters, which looked fairly busy with local and out-of-state license plates alike.

 _Good to know,_ Cho noted. _Would’ve been nice to have had a decent tent to camp out by the beach the other day._

She got out of her silver Volvo sedan and manually locked it.

Cho froze. The back of her neck chilled like ice.

She spun around, and she looked all around her.

Nothing but parked cars and busy people milling about the strip mall.

 _Someone watching me?_ Cho thought, taking a moment to regain herself. She quickly adjusted the clasp on her chain necklace and tucked the prefect badge into her shirt.

Hands in coat pockets, she paced toward the strip mall and the mysterious couple ahead of her. Looked like they were heading into the record store called DJ’s Records.

 _How creative,_ Cho rolled her eyes.

Inside, rows and rows of what looked like both CDs and vinyl records filled the intimate store. Someone at the front counter, which housed music magazines and listening paraphernalia, waved to Cho. Graphic t-shirts and posters of various classic, punkish and ghoulish bands covered the walls. And a classic rock song with a bewitching guitar riff hummed from the ceiling speakers.

Across the room, the mysterious couple stood by the “alternative rock” section. The blonde bloke still wore his sunglasses inside, as if he couldn’t be bothered to remove them. The girl next to him, however, had tucked her shades into her shirt collar. Her dark brown pixie hair framed her sharp cheekbones nicely.

“You new around here?” the clerk behind the counter asked.

Cho turned to him, flustered. “Y-yes, this is my first time here. Actually just moved to the area.” She kept glancing back at the couple.

“Oh yeah? Where you from?”

 _Oh jeez, not again._ “Dublin, Ireland. And my parents are from Hong Kong.”

“Whoa, sweet.” The clerk nodded his head as if he were nodding underwater—slowly and with a half-lidded glaze over his eyes. “We don’t get a lot of imports to Forks.”

“ _Imports?_ ” Cho spat. She knew she should have been more baffled by the use of the word.

But for whatever reason, she was inexplicably calm about it. Like a serene wave washed over her split second of outrage, despite her still-present confusion over the clerk’s vocabulary.

“Guess you could say that,” Cho said, raising a brow at him. _Numpty,_ she thought.

“Well, I mean, not imports, but—well, you know what I mean—” The clerk nervously laughed. It turned into a few more awkward moments of him sputtering in an attempt to save face and the two of them exchanging more small talk. Cho could forgive him. For now.

“Wouldn’t happen to have anything by The Weird Sisters, would you?” Cho threw out there half-jokingly.

She eyed the back of the store: The pixie girl was still thumbing through CDs. The blonde bloke was slowly stalking towards a display for over-ear headphones, closer to where she and the clerk were talking.

“Actually, you’re in luck,” the clerk said. He pointed her to a vinyl section for “world music” (“For lack of a better label,” the clerk said, “but what _are_ labels, right?”) further back in the store. Cho thanked him profusely.

 _Now the difficult part,_ Cho thought. She sauntered towards the back. _Come on, Cho, where did all those calm emotions go? You’re not dueling a dragon, you’re just...making an indelible first impression with someone you want to befriend, is all._

“I’ll wait in the car,” the blonde bloke suddenly called from across the store.

“I know,” the girl said quietly without looking up.

Cho glanced behind her: The blonde bloke marched to the door.

“Good to see you again, Jas,” the clerk called out.

“Don’t call me that.” The blonde bloke spun around and threw him the sharpest scowl.

The clerk flinched—might as well have dodged an actual dagger.

Then the blonde bloke left. His hands never left his pockets.

Cho blinked. _What a cool kid…_ She shrugged. _A little off-putting, but rather bizarre, the bloke._

She quickened her pace. Befriending someone on her first weekend in town would be such an accomplishment.

And obtaining an unexpected reminder of home was...not unwelcome. _What’s the harm in a little more nostalgia at this point?_ Cho thought. _Who was I to expect to completely obliterate_ all _reminders of where I’m from? There must be a ghost laughing their arse off right now._

She reached the humble “world music” section and scanned the alphabetical tabs. Lo and behold, a record with a sleeve that had seen better days was waiting for Cho. The album art didn’t move, but she didn’t care; it bore “The Weird Sisters” written in their signature scrawl and a photo of the band inside, so she knew it was authentic. _Oh my god, they must also perform for muggles then—I_ never _knew that!_ Cho snatched the record like a hungry kid in a candy store.

“You like The Weird Sisters, too?” the pixie girl’s voice reached Cho.

“Wha—?!” Cho lost her grip on the vinyl.

The pixie girl appeared and gracefully leapt to catch the album like a baseman. Her red gloved fingers daintily held the vinyl and placed it back into Cho’s hands.

“Careful,” the girl smiled, from her plump lower lip to her bright hazel eyes.

Cho was almost taken aback by how bright the girl’s eyes were. They very much reminded her of Esme’s hazel eyes...but with much more saturation them...almost like...an owl’s eyes.

“I-I am, I’m so sorry—” Cho placed the record on top of the nearest CD section. “Yes, I’m still very much into them! _Really_ dug them back in secondary school, and I’m pretty stoked this place has ‘em, of all places. Honestly the last place I would’ve expected to see a Weird Sisters album if you ask me, they’re a tad obscure even where I’m from…” Cho felt herself start to internally cringe at her babbling.

“I hear you, girl,” the pixie girl replied, “I didn’t know of them until... _maybe_ a few years ago? When we were on a family trip around Europe on our way back from Italy—yeah, I know, it was swell. We heard them playing from this street vendor’s phonograph, and I just _rocked_ out to it while I tried some of his _weird_ but delicious treats. He even had some ‘blood-flavored’ lollipops!”

Cho beamed. _Those lollipops were in Hogsmeade, too… That man had to have been a wizard._ Not mention how the pixie girls’ voice was still blowing Cho’s mind. All of Cho’s fears quickly melted away.

“Do you host a radio program, or—what do you call it—a podcast?” Cho asked, grinning. “You have such a familiar, lovely voice, you definitely could.”

The girl looked taken aback for a moment.

“I could say the same for you,” she beamed. “You’re Cho, right?”

She pulled off her red gloves and held out her small, snow white hand.

“How did you—?” Cho started to ask.

“I’m Alice, one of Esme’s children—” She pulled her hand back briefly. “Gosh, that _still_ sounds weird. It’s not like we’re a _cult_ or anything, but she is my adopted mother.” She held her hand out again.

“And what a mother she is,” Cho smiled. She liked Alice already. “Such a pleasure, Alice.”

They shook hands. But the pixie girl’s hand was icy cold. Then again, it was starting to get chilly this time of year...but the gesture certainly woke up any lingering sleep Cho still felt.

“And the fussy baby who just left is Jasper.” Alice gestured toward the door. She shook her head disapprovingly. “He’s sour because he didn’t grab lunch when everyone else did…” She reached for a CD, an album by a band named Muse. “Poor thing,” Alice sighed.

Cho’s ears perked up.

“What’s the matter?” Alice suddenly asked, concerned. “You look like you’re seeing a vision.”

Cho arched a brow at her. “Nothing, just…” Cho saw her hands pick up her Weird Sisters vinyl, but her mind was still in thought.  “I just had the queerest deja vu…”

“Oh, yeah.” Alice nodded to whatever beat was in her head. “That happens to me quite often, too. Happens in a small town, I guess.”

Cho couldn’t shake off this trigger of familiarity, but she would have to if she planned on functioning like a normal human being. But _what was it_ that seemed so familiar just now?

“Perhaps,” Cho said, then sighed. “I’ve already had to relay my whole life story dozens of times at the department store, at the gas station, and this restaurant I go to for lunch, and—it’s quickly become my new routine! It’s a bit ridiculous. Like I’m some...alien or mythical creature they’d never seen before, and they’re _probing_ me.”

“It’s just the novelty - people will eventually let you be after they learn how to treat you less like a circus attraction. They all used to do that to _us_ when we first moved here.” Alice giggled. “Well hey, do you have a cellphone? Let me add your number.”

She began to pull out what looked like a thin, metallic rectangle that unfolded into a longer, thinner cellphone Cho had never seen before. The numbers glowed in a blue light emanating from within the device.

“I’m busy with family affairs at the moment, but if you ever need a shopping buddy, I’d be down to go downtown with you once things cool over.” Alice glanced at Cho again with the biggest smile. “This is exciting. Esme told me nothing but good things about you.”

Cho blinked and hesitated to answer, but she still smiled. “No...I only have the landline at the cottage. Technology and I aren’t the best of friends. But I’m learning! The hi-fi at the cottage works just fine, thank goodness! Otherwise I’d go stir-crazy without some music to drown out my thoughts...”

“Ooo, retro!” Alice clapped her hands together and clasped the cellphone shut. “That’s okay, I’ll just scribble my number for you.”

She took out a red Sharpie from what Cho assumed was a breast pocket hidden beneath her black scarf. Then without warning, Alice took Cho’s hand and started writing digits on the back of her fair, sand-hued skin.

Cho felt her face flush. Alice’s hands were so unusually cold. The contrast of their skin tones brought out the rosy undertone and olive veins in Cho’s skin.

_Snap out of it, Cho, it’s not the first time your hand was ever touched by a girl, my god._

“Or just call me if you wanna shoot the shit, I don’t care,” Alice said nonchalantly, her breath like feathers against Cho’s skin.

“Oh yeah—” Cho blurted. “Been meaning to ask - where is the nearest grocer’s from here? I promised Esme I’d replenish the jam in the cottage because I’m...a porker.”

Alice looked up, her brows arched; her yellow eyes simply _pierced_ with colour. Her hands ghosted from Cho’s hand, the red Sharpie still in her white fingers.

“There’s a Thriftway about 20 minutes from here.” Alice grinned. “Need me to draw you a map?”

* * *

 

_So Americans really do refrigerate their eggs, huh._

Cho readjusted her grip on her handbasket. Three normal jars of cherry preserves and some fresh apples shouldn’t have felt that heavy.

“Pardon me, miss.” A man said from over her shoulder.

“Oh, pardon.” Cho stepped aside in a haze. _I wonder how Alice likes her eggs cooked._

She glanced at the gentleman who’d swooped in to grab the nearest three boxes of 18-count extra large eggs. He reached for a fifth, stopped - as if considering it, then decided against it.

“That’s quite a few eggs,” Cho laughed. “Having breakfast for a family reunion?”

The gentleman - tall, blonde, and fair, almost deathly pallid - gave her a wry grin. “My daughter-in-law currently has a craving for eggs. I’m doing my son a favor and making this egg run.”

Cho observed him a bit more: He couldn’t be older than 30, maybe 40. Flaxen blonde hair pushed back to reveal a smooth forehead and calm brow. And his eyes...his eyes were the most intriguing, mesmerizing shade of yellow, like a glowing honey… Almost the same shade as Esme’s and Alice’s hazel, but a shade darker.

“Heaven knows how many times I’ve indulged in eggs for dinner,” Cho added.

The gentleman genuinely laughed, then looked Cho in the eye. “Have we met before?”

 _Ooof, time for my 903rd introduction,_ Cho thought. “No sir, I’m new to town...”

“Oh, you know what - forgive me for assuming, but you must be Cho Chang.” He held out his free hand. “Jason and Esme have told me about you. I hear you want to rent out our cottage, is that right?”

Cho gaped at him. _This_ was Carlisle Cullen. Dr. and Mrs. Cullen were such a handsome - and _youthful_ \- couple. How could some human beings exist with such genetic luck? She almost didn’t return Carlisle’s gesture and hastily put down her handbasket to shake his hand.

“Dr. Carlisle? It’s good to finally meet you,” Cho beamed.

“Oh, no need for formality - Carlisle’s fine.” He shook her hand. “I wish we were meeting under more ideal and less retail circumstances,” Carlisle said, glancing at his watch, “but feel free to contact me or Esme if you ever need anything. I have a patient to attend to before dinner.”

“Thank you so much!” Cho uttered, before Carlisle smiled brightly in return and somehow made speed-walking look like dancefloor-gliding down the aisle.

“Delightfully strange,” Cho thought aloud as she picked up her things.

Cho checked the contents of her handbasket one last time and headed for the checkout lanes. She started walking in a confident march, but she gradually slowed to a distracted amble. All the Cullens have been nothing but terribly kind and generous to her—or at least the ones she’d met so far. Was Alice an outdoorsy person? She did seem rather pale...they _all_ did… But regardless, Cho loved the idea of a hike in the woods with Alice, or just another hike along the trail by the Quileute reservation perha—

“ _Oof!_ ” Cho yelped.

A taller person, a bloke presumably, bumped into her without stopping.

“Sorry!” She hurried ahead to the nearest lane without looking at the man. _Jeez, his shoulder felt like a bloody marble column…what a charmer._

She started placing her meager items on the conveyor belt and continued to think, all the while still able to greet the clerk and small talk. Something bothered Cho. Her thoughts started to orbit around an elusive common point she couldn’t immediately grasp... Esme, Alice, Carlisle…

Their eyes.

They all had the same eye colour, more or less. She wished she could think of it as a coincidence, but the hair standing on the back of her neck said otherwise...

 _And yet again, someone_ must _be looking at me, I swear,_ she thought.

Without thinking more, she turned to look over her left shoulder and...and…

The cherry preserves slipped from her trembling hand.

_CRAASSSH!_

A tall young man with brown hair stood in the next aisle and conversed with Carlisle, as if they knew each other. Both men had gold rings on their left hands. Both men eyed the spill.

But the tall, young man grew silent, and he slowly turned and caught her gaze.

Cho couldn’t move. She couldn’t believe it.

She could barely feel her mouth shaping his name.

“Ced...ric?”

His name felt like a knife pulled from her chest, opening an old, deep wound anew.

His eyes weren’t the familiar gray which used to haunt her. They were now two round irises of the same honey colour as Carlisle’s. As Alice’s. As Esme’s.

But his face was the same. The same as it ever was… Simply beautiful. His square jaw. His strong brow. His lips.

But he looked tired. And his skin, so terribly pale. _Just like the rest of them._ It was nearly as taut as stone and nearly as white as the day he...as the day he…

Her bottom lip quivered.

“Miss?” the clerk called.

Cho hurried to collect her change. She apologized profusely, forget the mess, she had another jar, it was fine, she was so sorry, pardon me, she needed to leave right this instant, thank you.

Her thoughts and vision blurred. Her feet moved. Her hands—her hands were shaking. But they opened car doors; dumped her groceries; gathered her keys; started the car; turned the steering wheel. Roads and lights were streaks in her windshield. Silence filled her ears. Before she knew it, she was back home.

Cho breathed in. Slowly. She closed her eyes. The smell of exhaust and damp leaves through the cracks of her windows.

The prefect badge was a cold rock against her sternum. She wanted to rip it off.

Her hand gripped at her chest. But she couldn’t do it.

Her heart kept racing. Her chest tightened. Her eyes stung.

All she could see was his eyes. Those _yellow_ eyes. All of _their_ eyes.

She breathed out. In. Out. In.

“That’s impossible. That’s...that is so—” Breathe. In. Out. “How did they—”

She shivered. She could barely breathe anymore.

Her forehead pressed against the wheel.

Cedric died that night. That horrible, unforgivable night. It was so long ago. And yet…

It _hurt_. It hurt so much. Like she was still looking at his lifeless body.

And in a way, she still was.

Cho clenched the wheel.

Sobs pierced her chest.

The tears finally spilled.

_How could he be alive after all these years?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This fic was inspired by pure nostalgia: my friend Schwilliam decided to dig up my old FF.net account and point out that I'd favorited a Twilight/Harry Potter crossover fic surrounding a Cho/Cedric plot. I decided to re-read it, and it left me wanting to write my own fic, something my teenage self would've wanted to read, but with more depth to it. So here's the first of hopefully many more chapters of this troubled girl's rediscovery of her lost love.


	2. La Push

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _"So here I am...alone...somewhere on La Push beach, at who-knows-what time in the god-awful morning...contemplating how my best friend thinks I’m actually, truly bonkers...and I’ve yet to figure out anything at all about these past few months… I’m so pathetic."_

Everything was pointless.

Much like the pom-pom on Cho’s hat.

Sure, it made the accessory look more cute than it really was, but that was it. The puff of cotton served no other pragmatic purpose. She could’ve cut the thing off, and it wouldn’t have prevented the hat’s ability to keep her head warm _._ But she liked it at the time she purchased it from Newton’s Olympic Outfitters because it was a literal ball of bright yellow in a sea of dull beanies. Her hat was knitted and interwoven with yellow and blue.

Sitting here at this frozen beach simultaneously felt like a waste of time and an itch being scratched. She was doing something, at least, sitting here. Cho watched her breath turn to clouds. Her mittened hands were buried in her down parka. Her wet boots stained her jeans from her sitting cross-legged on the sand. The sky was stark white. The water, dark gray. The cold was numbing.

_What the hell am I doing here?_ Cho thought.

Cho hugged her legs. The badge moved with her against the thin skin over her sternum. She shivered. Her campfire from last night was a sad pile of wet, blackened sticks in the sand. It felt like it must have been 0º C. She still didn’t understand why Muggles here put their faith in a groundhog to determine how much longer winter would last. Winters were pretty much consistent…

But this year, time ran much slower. Or rather, not ran, but plodded on. Time moved to the beat of a threnody that only Cho could hear.

_Bee-beep._

Cho slothfully looked over her shoulder. The sound of something briefly vibrating reached her ears. Then it stopped. She leaned over and reached into the unzipped entrance into her tent to fetch her cell phone.

This small brick of a phone was a breakthrough in her technology curse, but she barely used it. It was like an instant owl for short messages and an OK telephone at best. Cho checked the pixelated screen.

 

_1 New Message: ALICE_

_1 Missed Call: ALICE_

 

Cho tossed the phone back into her tent.

She came here to clear her thoughts, and her current headspace couldn’t have felt more blank. As blank as the white sky above her… Isn’t that what she wanted when she came here? A blank slate?

_Why couldn’t it have stayed that way…?_ Cho thought.

 

* * *

 

_Six months months ago..._

 

“Cho?” Esme called from the kitchen.

Usually she’d hear bustling about from the bedroom, but today, like days before, was dead silent.

Esme slowed her preparation. Her human instincts moved her shoulders to rise and her chest to heave a heavy sigh. It felt natural. But nonetheless sorrowful.

The matriarch left a clean plate and silverware on the counter. She left the eggs and toast on a hot plate, low heat, and covered it. She poured out her mug of water and left some water in the kettle.

Esme had almost left the kitchen area when something caught her eye.

The owl cookie jar had been turned around; its yellow eyes now faced the corner of the walls, as if sitting in time-out.

She sighed again. No air left her lips, but her chest fell heavily all the same.

Esme tiptoed down the hallway. She didn’t have to knock, but she did, softly. She could hear Cho’s steady breathing through the wooden door; she could hear the girl’s heart beating; she could smell the familiar hint of cotton tissue soaked with salt water.

Esme raised her hand to knock again, but stopped herself.

She of all people knew what it felt like to grieve.

 

* * *

 

Cho’s daze would not relent.

The only time she didn’t feel like her soul was knocked out of her was when she went to work, oddly enough. And it was a job that would’ve made her mother shut down the Ministry out of sheer outrage. All the better.

Papyrella - the local stationery shop -  was home to enough parchment, inkwells, pencils, and quills to rival Diagon Alley. Cho absolutely beamed at all the shelves and displays inside the shop. Five days a week, she would nerd out about stationery as a clerk and get paid for it. What more could she have asked for?

“Yo, Cho!” Kanako greeted. Her smile seemed to radiate from her entire body.

Cho smiled back at her co-worker, who somehow made sweeping the floor look like a jig with a broomstick.

“You are absolutely infectious,” Cho giggled. “I can’t _wait_ to unpack that new shipment of cute greeting cards.” She hurried to the backroom to punch in and grab a clipboard for inventory.

“Yeah, can’t believe it’s already another holiday season…” Kanako’s voice trailed off.

“Oh shoot, that reminds me, I have to start writing everyone back...home…?” When Cho came back, she saw Kanako staring out the window. Her broom sweeping slowed to a halt.

Cho peered out in the same direction. “Bird-watching?”

Kanako shrugged and went back to sweeping. “Thought I saw an old high school classmate. They have a flashy car.”

Cho glanced once more, squinting, then shrugged herself. “Happens to the best of us.”

They both worked, chatted, greeted the humble number of guests as the afternoon flew by.

But every now and then between guests, Cho caught Kanako looking out the window—craning her neck, stealing quick glances, sometimes even looking out in frustration.

It was almost time to close shop, when Cho caught her friend at it again.

“OK, what’s the matter, Kanako?” Cho marched over to where Kanako stood behind the counter. “What on this side of the earth are you—?”

Cho stopped mid-breath when she saw him.

A pale, casually dressed Cedric was leaning against the hood of a black Volvo SUV. He wasn’t facing them, but if Cho had to guess, he could probably still see them in the corner of his bright yellow eyes. At the moment, he was deep in conversation with whoever was on the other end of his cell phone call.

And he wasn’t happy.

“I swear, I’ve been seeing Edward Cullen running in and out of the bookstore all day today,” Kanako said. “I know one of his brothers used to work at the cafe, Emmett I think.”

“He must be writing a novel...” Cho mumbled. “The tea over there isn’t _that_ phenomenal.”

 

* * *

 

A flash of white in the corner of her eye.

A flurry of dead leaves.

The constant chill on the back of her neck.

Cho knew it was him. It had to be.

As if his previous cameos by her workplace weren’t enough.

_What are you getting at, Cedric?_ Cho thought, eyes wandering across the remaining, withering leaves above her. She rubbed the back of her neck. _This is so unlike you..._

The first time, she thought she saw an actual giant bear like Jason Jenks forewarned. A few snaps of twigs here and there. A rustle of branches.

But it was the constant feeling of being _watched_ that did Cho in.

She started bringing her wand with her on hikes, in a custom leather holster underneath her parka. She hadn’t seen a giant bear in the woods yet, but she wasn’t going to try her luck, Ministry be damned.

Every hike would be amiss if she didn’t at least _feel_ him in passing. It was comforting...and immensely frustrating. She wasn’t sure if he was a guardian angel or a hunter, always staying at a distance, never near enough to communicate with, no matter how much she prayed or preyed.

“I know you’re there,” Cho called out one day.

Only silence replied.

Cho frowned. “Somewhere…”

 

* * *

 

It was a Friday in October. A rusty orange twilight bled through the slits between the copious trees. A strong gust of wind tousled what black hair seeped from beneath her bright knitted cap. Cho instinctively reached behind her, over her shoulder, for her wand.

Something rustled. Then something _rushed_ past her.

“ _Oof!_ ”

The ground met her face. The air in her lungs was blown out of her chest. Cho felt wet dirt smear her cheek. A loose twig cut her brow.

“ _I did it again. Crap. I was switching gears, I swear..._ ” a young woman’s voice cursed.

“ _It takes practice, Bella..._ ” another voice, more familiar, echoed in passing.

Cho could barely see. Was it getting darker already? Damn American time. If not for adrenaline and panic she wouldn’t have jumped back on her feet and whipped out her wand in time.

“ _LUMOS!_ ” she heard herself scream.

Damn her brain. Didn’t she train enough years in Defense Against the Dark Arts to be more quick to the charm? But her foible paid off.

Sparkles _._ She saw _sparkles_.

She saw sparkles emanating from two figures’ skin. Distant but clear in the burst of light from her wand. She saw two ghostly figures, backs facing Cho, in mid-flight, sparkling in the twilight, about to disappear behind a rise of rocks.

One of them was Cedric. And no mistake, his round golden eyes saw her.

But his arm was stretched out to protect a pale woman to his left.

The woman’s _face._ It was somewhere between serene and borderline impenitent. Cho couldn’t tell. It was like trying to read tea leaves in Professor Trelawney’s class again, but with the cool, thin lines of a demon’s stare.

All Cho knew was that the woman’s _blood red eyes_ were the coldest knives that could cut through flesh itself.

And they disappeared as quickly as they came.

Cho stood petrified. She still held her wand in front of her. Her hand was shaking.

 

* * *

 

“What the sh—!” Marietta sat straight up in bed.

A fucking bird was pecking at her face.

The little owl then cooed and fluttered away, landing at the edge of her bed. It held a dainty envelope in its peak and spat it out before it proceeded to fly away through the slip of a crack in Marietta’s window.

“Knew we should’ve gotten that fixed,” she cursed.

In her half-awake state, she crawled toward the delivered envelope without waking up the sleeping lump of her partner beside her. She barely remembered opening the damn envelope.

All Marietta saw on the small sheet of parchment that read in rich, bold, ink:

 

 

> **SOS.** **  
> ** **—Cho**
> 
>  

Marietta sighed into both palms.

“Love, what’s wrong?” Marietta’s partner slurred.

Marietta shook her head. “This girl has the nerve to send me a bloody cryptic owl at two in the morning...” _Took her long enough, though,_ she thought. You write your best friend an owl long before the holidays, and she decides to drop off the face of the planet after “finding herself” in the bloody States.

But from the looks of this water-warped paper, Marietta knew it was serious.

_Does she want me to go there? How the hell am I going to get there?_

Marietta looked closer at the piece of parchment. There was writing on the back of it, of course. Duh.

 

 

> **P.S. Used an old Ministry spell to connect my fireplace to the Floo network. Say “Cho’s cottage.”** **♥**

 

“You are a mad woman,” Marietta smiled.

 

* * *

 

The flash and twisters of bright green and white Floo powder and lightning subsided with her arrival at Cho’s cottage.

“You _are_ a mad woman.” Marietta gaped.

The room she entered seemed to be a den, but it was absolutely littered with books. Books on the rug, books on the armchair. Books underneath a little pot-sized Christmas tree that lit up from a plug in the wall. Old tomes and newer textbooks wrapped in library plastic. Broken pencils strewn about. Little, bright-colored squares with almost indecipherable notes written on them.

_I thought Cho’s handwriting was neater than that…? And Christmas is over. Silly._

Papers with black-and-white images of devilish illustrations. (None of which were moving images, much to Marietta’s disappointment.) Next to one of the grayscale images was but one moving image that was all-too familiar…

Marietta peered closer.

It was Cedric Diggory’s smirking portrait, which used to tucked in the vanity frame in the old Room of Requirement. No surprise Cho had snatched that relic at some point.

“Marieee—!” A voice sounded from the hallway. “Thought I heard you Floo in, you’re here early!”

Marietta smiled. “No, silly, you told me to—!” She gasped. “Christ, you look deathly.”

Cho stood at the hallway entrance—what little smile on Cho’s pale face soon withered away. Her eyes looked sunken with dark bags underneath them. Her lips were chapped terribly. The jumper and track pants Cho was wearing looked like they’d been hanging on her body for quite a few sleeps. Her hair also looked nearly as matty as Professor Snape’s.

“I’m sorry, I…” Cho stammered. “I w-would’ve freshened up if I’d known you were coming here so soon…”

_Well that’s what you get when you send such a cryptic-ass owl—_ Marietta bit her tongue. “When was the last time you…” _Slept? Ate? Bathed?_ Marietta shook her head. “...when was the last time you took care of yourself, Chang?”

She’d hit a nerve.

Cho’s bottom lip started to quiver, eyes instantly downward. The poor girl then paced toward Marietta and gripped her in the tightest hug she’d received from her. _Well, she’d doesn’t reek, so that’s good,_ Marietta thought, _but my God, her waist is a needle._

“I can’t thank you enough that you’re here,” Cho’s voice trembled. “There’s too much to think about, too much to tell you—”

“Chang, stop. _Please_ .” Marietta said, holding Cho back at arms’ length. “Let me at least make you something, you _need_ to eat, then we can—”

“Sweet Merlin, no—” Cho broke away, hands animated in the air. “I already have enough people cooking for me in my life right now, I don’t need another form of unwarranted hospitality—”

“What..? What are you going _on_ about? No. _No._ ” The strawberry-blonde grabbed Cho by the shoulders and shepherded her toward the kitchen counter. “Sit. _Eat_. Then we’ll talk.”

Cho silently nodded. “Thank you,” she whimpered. She wiped her eyes with her sleeve. “There’s plenty of eggs in the fridge. Some stir-fry I tried to make the other day. See, I’m _trying_.”

“That you are,” Marietta wistfully smiled into the fridge light. “I’ll whip something together.”

 

* * *

 

They cleared some of the books on the rug for them to sit and eat. They ate a concoction of leftover stir-fry, boiled eggs, and veggies found in the fridge. It was just like old times—when they used to bring food from the great hall into their dorms during shorter holiday breaks and couldn’t be bothered to change from their pajamas, so they returned to their chambers, food in tow, and sat against one of their beds on the floor while they noshed on the delicious fare the house elves prepared.

“God, remember when Nanette challenged me to a game of Exploding Snap?” Marietta reminisced between mouthfuls. “And we’d just eaten dinner!”

Cho laughed. “You won her _whole_ stash of chocolate frogs, dear. Never forget the Stomachache of ‘95.”

“I was more worried about my fingers staying intact than my insides inverting. Padma just happened to be making a potion for bellyaches that night—” Marietta nearly choked on a noodle laughing. “Oh, oh, and you remember poor Padma crashing with all of us at the Yule Ball!? What is it with the Weasleys? She made Ol’ Ronald sound like he was more boring than a first-year charms lecture.”

A twinge of nostalgia colored Cho’s expression. Her chuckle seemed like an effort. “I almost forgot about that... If it weren’t for that boy from Durmstrang she would’ve been an odd one out at the ball...” Her eyes wandered about the books that remained lying about them. “I should...probably clean up this pigsty before we get too settled—”

Marietta grabbed Cho’s hand. “Not before you tell me what you’ve been up to. You haven’t told me a thing since that owl I sent you.” She rubbed her thumb across the back of Cho’s hand. “How have you been, Cho?”

Cho blushed and briefly glanced away. She gave a long sigh carried by her shoulders.

“I love it here. I truly do. I thought I found a little nook of a town to escape all the rubbish and monotony in the wizarding world, as much as I miss the occasional magic shortcut here and there. For instance—this town is way too small for me to try and Apparate to-and-fro without suspicion, so I drive a Volvo around—”

“You drive a _Volvo?_ ” Marietta raised a brow.

“Yes, it’s quite invigorating,” Cho lit up. “It takes the G’s that come with hugging tight turns through the forests surprisingly well.”

“Uh huh.” Marietta nodded slowly.

“Sorry,” Cho winced. “Anywho, things seemed to be going swimmingly for literally a _week_ at most—going shopping, meeting new acquaintances, meeting my da’s Muggle friend from university, befriending some of _his_ friends, and even getting a new _job_ , but then—!”

“Slow down,” Marietta cooed.

Instead, Cho came to a full stop. Her expression had grown increasingly pained as she’d spoken, and now she looked as though she’d burst into tears again. Her eyes darted among the books that lay next to her.

“Did someone hurt you? Some _American_ wizard? Christ.” Marietta squinted and leaned forward, pushing her plate away on the floor. “Did your _da’s ‘friend’_ lay a finger on you—”

“Gosh, no!” Cho hissed. “He’s like an uncle to me!”

“Then _why_ the hell do you have a whole library’s worth of mythological textbooks in your cottage like you’re studying for the O.W.L.’s again?”

Cho became silent. Her eyes returned to her plate. She forlornly rested her plate on top of a book; she’d only taken a few bites, not even half her food.

“And dare I ask…” Marietta peered at one of the black-and-white images. “...why do they all seem to be about...ghosts or...other ghoulish creatures?”

Cho winced. She muttered something.

“Come again?” Marietta craned her neck.

“What if I told you,” Cho said louder, “that I saw someone we both knew, living _here_?”

Marietta stared at Cho. “Well—the world is rather small, but… What are the odds of one of our classmates or parents’ magical friends living _here,_ in a small town that not even _you_ had heard of ‘til recently?”

“No.”

Cho took both of Marietta’s hands. She looked Marietta dead in the eyes.

“What if I told you…” Her lips were trembling, but she pressed on. “... that I saw a _ghost_ here? Of someone we both knew? Someone who is _somehow…_ ” She squeezed Marietta’s hands. “...somehow still alive?”

Marietta couldn’t help but glance at the portrait of Cedric Diggory, still smirking at all who saw him as if he’d never stopped breathing.

“Cho…” Marietta pulled away. “You’re not telling me…”

Cho nodded solemnly. “I am. I _saw_ him. I saw Cedric, Marie. Standing at the grocers of all places. I couldn’t make that up if I tried!”

Marietta started shaking her head. “We all saw his body at the funeral, Cho... He must have been a doppelganger. You must not be sleeping enough—”

“I have slept more hours in the past _week_ than I ever have in my life _,_ and I have never felt more _exhausted!!_ ” Cho snapped.

“Cho—” Marietta gasped.

“Please!” The girl grabbed Marietta by the shoulders. Her eyes were brimming with tears and desperation. “Hear me out! I know what I saw! I can even show you—”

She rose in a hurry, dashing over to the other side of the room, and crouched over another small pile of books and papers by the fireplace.

“For God’s sake, Cho, don’t tell me _this_ is why you moved to the bloody States!” Marietta got up, too, and started after Cho. “If you’re still so forlorn over Cedric after all these years, then you need some _serious_ help! See a _therapist_ or drink a potion or—”

“Look!” Cho shouted.

Marietta reeled back from the paper that’d been shoved in her face. It was some kind of non-moving image of a page in a yearbook, but fuzzier in quality...almost like it was printed for the Daily Prophet.

“Chang, first off, why do you have so many non-moving, black-and-white pictures?”

“I used a copy machine, Marietta, just look at the photocopy!”

“A _what_ machine?”

Cho moved the photocopy closer to her friend’s face. “I don’t have time to explain Muggle technology to you, would you _just_ look closely at the picture?”

“What am I looking at…?” Marietta scanned the rows of rather nondescript American teenagers and lists of names until her eyes reached the last row of students. “Cho that’s...that’s...an awfully good doppelganger you...found…”

No...noooo, there was _no_ way that could be Cedric Diggory. Smirking in that senior portrait in a modern tuxedo, much like his tuxedo robe at the Yule Ball, but with such a strange hairstyle… Did someone electrocute him? Why did his bangs stand up like that? She never realized how big his forehead was...unless that was just how _this_ boy’s forehead was. How unfortunate. _This could not be Cedric, though...could it?_

Cho’s hands gripped the paper tighter. “I have been trying to figure out for _weeks_ —” She removed the photocopy from Marietta’s sight and looked wide-eyed at her friend. “— _months!_ What kind of witchcraft brought Cedric back from the dead? And why his entire… ‘ _family_ ’—” She even drew air quotes with vitriol dripping from her voice like acid. “—looks like they were all resurrected from the dead in the most _beautiful_ way imaginable!” She tossed the photocopy aside as she paced in front of the fireplace. “I mean, look at his ‘ _siblings_ ’ they’re _all_ unbelievably gorgeous! I can’t figure it out, Marietta _—_ ”

Marietta picked up the photocopy off the floor while Cho kept ranting. She scanned the names next to the row of student portraits where Cedric’s was. _Alice Cullen, Edward Cullen, and Emmett Cullen, huh? They all look fairly attractive…_ She squinted at the three of them, looking at each one carefully. They all shared a similar shade of piercing, pale eyes…

The more she looked at them, the more something felt off.

“Are they all related?” Marietta asked, still studying them.

Cho scoffed. “No—apparently Dr. Carlisle Cullen adopted them all at different times out of the _kindness_ of his _bleeding, bloody heart._ ”

“Cho, you can do without the theatrics.”

An almost scary sound escaped Cho’s mouth—like a breathy laugh on the verge of an hysteric guffaw if Cho hadn’t stopped herself.

“Do you _see_ where I am right now, Marie? Do you see…?” Her voice grew small, back to the trembling, child-like sadness Marietta heard earlier. “I don’t know what to do, Marie. I was so happy here. Until I saw _him_ appear like the bloody ghost of Christmas Past, and I’ve been questioning everything. And it doesn’t help that his ‘family’ or...whatever they are. They’re so kind to me. I don’t deserve so much kindness. I want to _hate_ them, it would be _so much easier_ to hate them, but… I don’t know what to think anymore, Marietta.”

Marietta tossed the photocopy behind her and marched over to where Cho was. The poor girl was hugging her knees, sitting on the floor in front of the fireplace, her hair veiling her face.

“You cut that out _right_ now, Chang.” She crouched right next to Cho and wrapped a firm arm around her friend. “You deserve all the kindness and love in this forsaken world,” she fiercely whispered. “Don’t ever forget it, Chang. You’re surrounded by people who love you.”

She sat with Cho for a moment or two in silence. She wasn’t sure if Cho was crying or just sitting, quivering, mulling over whatever chaotic theories were brewing in her head.

“Do you really think that’s him?” Marietta asked.

Cho quietly nodded.

Marietta hesitated. She rubbed Cho’s shoulder. “Are you happy to see him?” she asked.

Cho looked up with teary, bleary eyes. Her hand clutched whatever necklace was hanging beneath her jumper. “There’s just so much I want to ask,” Cho said. “And the Cullens, they’re… magical or not, they’re like another family, Marie. His mother cooks for me here, can you dig that? And his sister Alice is… I just _don’t_ understand where they’re coming from—and where _he’s_ coming from. I need to find out _more._ ”

“Then I can’t stop you,” Marietta said. “But…”

Marietta rose to her feet before she could change her mind.

“I can’t buy that _that_ _boy_ is Cedric, Cho. I simply can’t. It’s…”

She looked at the fireplace. She couldn’t look at Cho. She couldn’t finish her thought, and she didn’t want to. She didn’t want to think of the implications of a world where Cedric was still alive— _somehow_ —all while the world back home thought they buried him… If that’s how Marietta felt, she couldn’t imagine what _Cho_ was feeling... The girl seemed far too gone in this theory. All this speculation would only open up all kinds of floodgates.

“I wish I could stay longer, but...by the time I return, I’ll have to get ready to go back to the Ministry. Damn time zones.”

Silence. Marietta slowly looked back at Cho.

“...I understand.” Cho stood up, eyes downward. Cho’s voice grew even quieter. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be, girlie.” Marietta took Cho’s hand and rubbed it again. “I’m here for you.”

Cho pulled her close and hugged her again. “Thanks for listening, at least. Maybe you’ll get to meet him one of these days. If I can get my act together.”

Marietta felt dread enter her mind as inescapable as Cho’s arms around her in that moment. “You’ll figure it out,” Marietta said.

“We’ll see,” Cho whispered.

And with a final goodbye, Marietta entered the bright green cyclone of Floo powder. She looked back one last time at Cho, waving back at her, a small smile on her face through the tears streaming down her face.

Marietta forced a smile.

Why did it feel like it was the last time she would see her dear friend?

 

* * *

 

_So here I am...alone...somewhere on La Push beach, at who-knows-what time in the god-awful morning...contemplating how my best friend thinks I’m actually, truly bonkers...and I’ve yet to figure out anything at all about these past few months… I’m so pathetic._

Cho scoffed at herself. It’d been nearly a month, and Cho hadn’t written or seen Marietta since she Floo’d by.

_And will I ever? Not after she clearly thinks I’ve jumped off the cliffs of insanity._

“Stop it,” Cho scolded herself.

She got to her feet with a stomp. There was so much she could feel weighing on her shoulders that she was tired of carrying. She walked slowly across the wet sand, towards the edge of the water. Was it bad to want to escape from the place she escaped _to_? Even if for a little while, where could she go...?

“I can’t go back,” Cho murmured to herself. “Not like this. Not yet anyway.”

Cho looked up. The sky remained relentlessly white, but now it was brighter. She saw a distant flock of birds in their V formation. Beautiful, simple, and truly awesome...the birds flew free in every sense of the word.

Cho’s eyes followed them across the horizon… She felt a longing in her chest that only resonated for but a chosen few in her life…

_Forget all this madness on the ground_ , Cho thought. _Just for a moment..._

She knew what she wanted to do now. It would definitely make her feel better. She quickly scanned the area around her. Surely, there wasn’t anyone around the beach _this_ early?

“Oh, bollocks.” Cho rolled her eyes. She outstretched a hand toward her tent. “ _Accio broom!_ ”

With a flick and a _ffffffwip!_ her trusty Comet 260 flew straight into her grasp like a yo-yo.

“Atta girl.” Cho smiled astride her broom. She pulled off her hat and tossed it onto the sand. “Let’s paint the sky.”

And she rocketed into the horizon.

Oh, how she missed soaring over the endless hills right in her backyard and feeling the neverending gust through her hair. Her eyes watered only from the wind in her face, but she could have cried from sheer joy. It had been far too long since her last take-off. The trees soon disappeared from her peripheral, and she saw nothing but dark gray below and stark white above zooming past her.

_Higher_ , she thought, smirking.

To any Muggles in the far, far distance, they could eat her broom bristles.

She shot at nearly a straight right angle up into the overcast sky. She felt like she was soaring straight into a blank void. Cho smiled. She felt like she could’ve flown out of this planet. The only other time she tried anything this daredevilish was for a desperate play at catching the Snitch during one Quidditch game… It was sometime before she’d met Cedric, and it was raining quite hard; she could have sworn she saw the Snitch fly up into the falling rain, and she didn’t want the damn Slytherin Seeker to get it first… It was quite stupid, with rain pelting her goggles like a barrage of bullets, but her gamble paid off.

Only this time now, her broom started to sputter.

“What?!” Cho gasped. She held on tight—her broom jerked, almost as if something were pulling it down—and it sputtered to a crawl. “This can’t be happening. Who could—?”

It stopped in mid-air.

Cho felt her hair jump ahead of her, as her body and broom started to rock and fall back down, down, down.

This was not good, no, no, no, no, not good at all.

How the hell far up did she fly? How _far away_ did she fly away from the shore? Cho tried re-mounting her broom in mid-fall, but she couldn’t feel a single hum of magic in her Comet. Time was slipping fast. She was falling several stories down in seconds.

_No, no, NO! Could I Apparate?_ Cho struggled to think. She squeezed her eyes shut and tried—

The next thing she knew, her body felt like it was being squeezed through the tightest rubber tube, bending this way and that in wending directions, until—

Cho felt the icy air again. She was still gripping her broom. She saw the shore again for the briefest second, just yards away.

But she hadn’t Apparated close enough, and the water was about to hit her face like a—

_SPLASSSSSHHHH!_

The water consumed her. She lost all feeling except the glacial water completely piercing through her. Her body sank further as she saw her broom escape her hand and float back to the top. Cho let herself sink, shocked. Where was her life going? Sinking in the depths of an icy lake was the last place she thought she’d be in this new place, in this new life she thought would make her happy…. The whole world seemed to be telling her she didn’t deserve to be happy…

_“You cut that out right now, Chang…”_

No, Cho thought. _I can’t let it end like this._

She hurried to move her arms and legs to swim up, but the freezing waters slowed her down. She felt like she was in a dream, with her body refusing to move faster than a glacial speed, but her mind and soul screaming to swim for her life. The thin shadow of her broom kept Cho’s eyes focused on the surface. Moments felt like years underwater.

She was close enough to the surface where she could make out the details on her Comet from a distance… The broom bristles...the seat… even the engraving... Cho swam with desperate hands stretched toward her broom—

Something grabbed her from behind.

Cho lurched. They felt like arms. They squeezed around her waist.

Giant air bubbles escaped her mouth.

Cho felt a pillar of ice against her back, and the arms started to pull her up and away from her broom. She struggled as much as she could, air bubbles flooding from her mouth.

Despite her panic, there was something vaguely reminiscent about being pulled by someone else from the depths of an icy lake…

Cho froze for a split second.

She kicked and thrashed harder.

She could feel his unrelenting body against hers. His cheek, against the crook of her neck.

They finally emerged from the water. Cho coughed up a storm.

Then her screams broke through the air.

“LET ME GO!!!!!!”

She struggled, arms still flying and striking all around her. His icy skin and the icy water were a seamless vise-grip around her body. Her eyes stayed shut like her gritted teeth.

Calm and cool, Cedric swam them closer to shore.

Cho felt her feet dig into wet sand until she and Cedric stumbled onto the ground.

They stayed tangled together.

Her initial strength was starting to wane… Cedric still kept his arms around her. She found herself lying against him in the most uncomfortable way (and her ankle was starting to shoot with pain) But somehow, he still held her, and she couldn’t leave him.

Cho buried her head in Cedric’s chest. It was cold and wet, but the flesh underneath felt warm in its familiarity.

Another wave of tears hit her. The same kind of tears that colored the rest of her time at Hogwarts; the same kind of tears she fought back for years thereafter. But she wasn’t strong enough anymore. Not right now. She cried until her heart felt like it would burst from her chest.

All the while Cedric still silently held her. She felt his hand ghost up her arm and caress her shoulder.

Cho quivered against him. It was like déjà vu.

“You let me go so easily,” Cho whimpered. “You couldn’t even say anything to me… Not even hello...”

Cedric then gripped her shoulder and, carefully, hoisted both of them to sit upright. He tucked a few stray, wet hairs behind her ear. His hand hesitated by Cho’s cheek; then he gingerly touched the crook her neck. His yellow eyes and his thin lips showed a pained, bittersweet smile that Cho nearly missed.

“I never let you go,” Cedric murmured. “Not once. Not ever.”

Cho could feel her pulse thrum against his touch. Her face felt hot.

She pulled away from him and took his hand in hers.

Cho gasped.

She felt his wedding ring slick against her wet palm.

Her heart sank into the icy lake all over again.

“ _How can you say that?_ ” Cho uttered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This took a lot longer than I wanted it to, but life and work is kicking my butt, so this fic is really my escape... I already have the next few chapters outlined, so the plot has only begun to thicken for Cho and...Edward? Cedric? Cedward? :)


	3. Cedward

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _“So, should I call you Cedric or Edward when we get there?” Cho asked._   
>  _Without missing a beat, a deadpan Alice answered, “Cedward.”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is probably the most plot-heavy chapter in this fic (hopefully). I didn't want to half-ass a reason why Cedric is Edward, plus it seemed like a fitting chapter to finally connect the HP world with the Twilight world. Enjoy!!

“ _How can you say that?_ ” Cho uttered.

She pulled away from Cedric’s touch.

A crease in Cedric’s brow broke his composure. “Cho—” he started.

“No, don’t answer that. Not yet.” Cho shifted where she sat, drenched in water and quickly accumulating sand on her clothes. She clasped her forehead. “I am at my wit’s end. Also—” She got to her feet, not looking back at Cedric, and marched toward the water. “—my bloody _broom_ is still in the—!”

_SPLAASH!!!_

“BLIMEY!” Cho flinched.

A giant splash of water shot up from the horizon.

She turned back to Cedric—and saw no one there.

Cho then turned back to the water: not a second later, a surge cut through the dark gray, and Cedric emerged, leaping back onto the sand with Cho’s broom in hand.

“I… uh.” Cho forgot how to speak for a good moment. “How did you…?”

Cedric was doubly as drenched as she was. And the sight of him holding out her Comet to her while literally dripping wet and, good God, wearing the same self-deprecating grin on his face like he was still seventeen evoked too many conflicting emotions for Cho.

“I could have summoned it without giving you more trouble, but…” Her voice gradually sank into a murmur. “...thank you.”

Her face still felt hot. It had to be a fever at this point, either that or she was heated with...embarrassment. Cho kept her eyes downward. She noticed her hat a foot away from Cedric’s bare, alabaster feet.

“Can’t imagine what you must be thinking now,” he said with a catch of uncertainty over what to say but with a genuine care in his words.

Cho scoffed to herself. “Where do I start? Not like you can read my mind anyway.”

There was a peculiar pause between them.

Cho looked up.

Cedric was wearing an intense expression. She’d seen that face before: when a puzzle or a particularly difficult problem stumped him, and he couldn’t quite figure it out.

“What?” Cho spat.

“I can’t,” Cedric said, looking defeated and—confused? “Of course I can’t read your mind... Cho, please—” He reached for her hand, his wedding ring glinting in the light.

She pulled away, stomping back from him, and shot him a glare.

Hurt colored Cedric’s face. “ _Please_ . Let me take you home.” His hand remained held out before her. “I’ll explain _everything_ , I promise.”

Cho squinted at him. “Home?”

Someone else loudly cleared their throat in the distance.

Cho turned around.

A familiar petite brunette with a pixie cut approached Cho and Cedric. She briefly admired Cho’s campsite as the pale pixie woman moved with a skip in her step, even with a hefty messenger bag draped across her chest.

The accent that came out of Cedric’s mouth was like night and day from how he spoke with Cho. “I thought I told you to wait in the—”

“Are you alright, Cho?” Alice asked, completely ignoring him.

Cho sheepishly nodded.

“I brought you both a change of clothes,” Alice continued, still ignoring Cedric. “You’re gonna need them before _Edward_ catches you up to speed.”

Alice said the boy’s name like it was the butt of the most subpar joke everyone else already knew, while finally smiling in Cedric’s direction.

“ _Edward_ was going to tell you where we’re going, and _Edward_ was going to be kind enough to drive your car over there. Right, _Edward_?”

Cedric glowered at Alice like a Malfoy stuck in a long queue. If Cho didn’t know better, she would’ve thought his eyes were literally glowing with vexation.

“That is...totally unnecessary.” Cedric’s accent wavered, but his anger stayed teeming.

Cho gaped at the once-dubbed Golden Boy Diggory, who every boy wanted to be and every girl wanted to snog.

“Don’t tell me you _faked_ an American accent all these years…” She had to look away, her head shaking so much, water dripped from her hair. She scoffed. “God, it’s like I never even _knew_ you.”

Cedric’s face continued to contort with every word Cho said.

_Good. Feel it. Feel how much it hurts,_ Cho thought. A flash of guilt for her thoughts went through her, but it still felt cathartic to watch him finally emote.

Like a crumpled ball of paper, Cedric buried his face in his hands and re-gathered himself. “I swear, Alice,” Cedric settled on speaking in his original accent, “if you even _attempt_ to leave me in the dust on the way home, you and I both know how that race will end.”

Alice glanced somewhere past Cedric’s shoulder and briefly but intently stared into the distance. Then she tsk’d and wore a sour face. “Yeah, you’re right. _Edward._ ”

Cho blinked. What a strange reaction, she thought.

“So, should I call you Cedric or Edward when we get there?” Cho asked.

Without missing a beat, a deadpan Alice answered, “Cedward.”

Cho stifled a giggle—and failed. If the boy kept reacting with that face of his, she would’ve started calling him Cedward Malfoy.

 

* * *

 

An hour’s drive probably only took 30 minutes, thanks to Alice’s lead foot and Cedric’s competitive streak. Cedric kept glancing in his rearview mirror ahead of them. His eyes flashed a wily shade of dark gold, something Cho would’ve missed if she blinked.

Cho gripped the passenger armrest for her life. But she grinned to herself.

He hadn’t changed at all.

She closed her eyes and imagined a scenario not too different, but instead of two cars, it was two brooms over (and all over) the Quidditch pitch outside Hogwarts castle...

“Here we are,” Alice said softly, interrupting Cho’s reverie. “ _Chez Carlisle et Esme._ ”

Cho looked upon a modern, angular dollhouse made of waxed wood and glass so clear she could walk through it. Cho felt like she was approaching a time capsule from a time that had yet to come, an architecturally beautiful but alien structure that somehow survived in this verdant, hilly forest without even a fingerprint on its sliding patio doors.

“All of you live here?” Cho asked while struggling to close her jaw.

“Most of the time,” Alice said. “There’s more than enough space for the whole family. But even then, sometimes Rosalie and Emmett, or Edward and... yeah. They sometimes go to their own cottages for some...extra privacy.”

Cho gulped and pressed her lips, nodding. “Understood.”

Cho’s door opened.

“Let the lady open her own door for once, brother,” Alice quipped.

Cedric stood at Cho’s door, hand extended like the gentleman he was trying to be again.

Cho stepped out and, tightly crossing her arms, walked past him.

Cho kept walking toward what looked like the main entrance. She walked slowly in these tight denims Alice lent to her...something trendier than she was used to, but she couldn’t complain. _That was so kind of her_ , Cho thought. Halfway there, Cho saw a blur of a white trail whiz past her all the way to the door, until Cedric reappeared, yet again holding open the door for her and Alice.

_Keep walking, Chang,_ Cho thought. Marietta would be proud.

Inside, the high ceilings, natural lighting, and wood flooring were all pristine. Various furniture pieces appeared vintage with plush cushions and clawfoot legs, but they still seemed to match just fine with the home’s contemporary look. The three of them entered a den, with bookshelves filled with volumes both leatherbound and paperback surrounding the aegean blue couch. Fresh wood crackled in the fireplace and filled the tense air with a fragrant smell, almost like a smokey fruit.

“Everyone else should be coming back soon from...breakfast,” Alice chimed.

Cedric made a sound like something between a hiss and and sigh under his breath. “You can cut the formalities, Alice.”

Cho furrowed her brow. “What do you mean?”

Cedric walked over to the couch and sat down, his body stiff, his shoulders tense. He laid one of his pale hands on the seat cushion next to him, and turned his gaze toward Cho.

“Sit,” he said firmly. “I’m about to tell you.”

_‘Sit’? Like I’m some kind of dog?_ Cho felt her patience eroding faster than the embers in the fireplace. “You don’t get to talk to me like that.”

And she firmly sat down in the adjacent armchair. Her arms were still crossed even after relaxing her shoulders from tension she didn’t realize she’d been holding.

Alice cleared her throat. “Very well then.” She settled into the opposite arm chair.

They all sat in silence more awkward than a long lift ride, with only the crackling fire filling the void. Cho kept her eyes on the mahogany coffee table. If he was going to be like this, this was going to be a _long_ morning.

“Cedric…” Alice’s voice then chimed in, this time much softer, as if gently encouraging the boy to relax.

Cho felt her arms fall to her sides, her hands holding the chair cushion. Hearing someone else say his name— _acknowledging_ his existence—made it feel that much more real. And that much more frightening.

“I’m waiting for Bella,” Cedric said. “She has a right to know.”

The fireplace continued to crackle.

“May I have a glass of water?” Cho asked, shifting in her seat. “I’m suddenly parched.”

Cho wanted to drown the sinking pit in her stomach.

“They’re almost home,” Alice said. “Is tap fine?”

A blur of movement replaced Alice’s figure, and she returned in an instant, holding out a glass of water to Cho across the coffee table.

“Um...yes, thank you,” Cho struggled to speak. She took the glass and sipped the tepid water before resting it on the coffee table. She took a deep breath. “Cedric?”

“You’ve decided to speak to me again?” he replied.

Cho glared at the sonuvabitch. Cedric glared back. It was the most childish stand-off. She waited for both of their faces to cool themselves before her initial curiosity returned to her.

“All of you must be in contact with some kind of... _magic_...right?”

Cedric grinned, but his grin was mired with bitterness. “If only it were magic… It’s something much worse. There’s not a day that I don’t miss it.”

“Miss what?”

All three of them turned their heads.

Cho’s heart sank.

It was the red-eyed woman.

The white demon woman with bright, scarlet eyes and voluminous, dark brown hair entered the den with a whole entourage of incredibly beautiful people.

Three of whom were Esme, Carlisle, and Jasper, the moody one from the record store, who even now was wearing a slight scowl on his face. Esme looked surprised but quickly heartwarmed to see Cho. Carlisle also seemed glad to see her, while the others Cho didn’t recognize eyed her with a neutral but intense stare with their golden eyes.

Cho spotted a taller blonde woman with curves that rivaled the waves in her flaxen hair. Her jaw was square and sharp, and her beauty mark punctuated the rest of the beauty of her face. She stood next to a towering, burly gentleman with very short dark hair, similar square jaw, but smaller eyes and bigger smirk than the indifferent, flat line her lips made.

And then there was the child.

The only thing that prevented Cho from trembling at the sight of the red-eyed woman was the _absolutely_ gorgeous child who was holding hands with the blonde woman. The little girl had long, copper-brown ringlets that fell past her shoulders and skin as white as snow that somehow seemed to _glow_. Her eyes were the warmest shade of brown in her soft, serene face…

...and her _face_. The little girl looked so much like...Cedric.

“Cho,” Alice beckoned. The pixie woman rose and went to stand with Jasper.

Cho returned to reality: she was met again with the red-eyed woman.

“Pardon?” she choked.

“Are you a friend of Edward?” the red-eyed woman asked, as if repeating herself.

Cho blinked and missed a beat. She was still taken so off-guard by how _stunning_ everyone else physically appeared. _What kind of Veela lineage did they inherit?_ she briefly pondered.

“Pardon me, yes. My name is Cho Chang. And...you could say that I’m an old friend of...Edward.” She slowly turned to Cedric.

“You could say she _knows_ him,” Jasper muttered.

Everyone in the room stared at Jasper, even the little girl. Cho blushed.

“What?” Jasper shrugged.

“Read the room, will you?” Alice hissed at him.

“Please forgive him for being so _rude_ , dear Cho,” Carlisle raised his voice, tossing Jasper a disapproving look.

Cho nodded, or rather, slowly bobbed her head up and down in confused politeness.

Bella eyed Cho once more with suspicion, then she shifted her look to Alice.

“Tell Jasper to shut up before I do it myself,” she said, clearly irritated.

Cho then saw Alice go head and pull Jasper aside; she gripped his shoulder with a claw-like hold and snarled silent curses into his ear.

_What in all nine hells is going on?_ Cho thought.

She felt the red-eyed woman’s stare impale her. Cho turned back and gave her best friendly smile, but her knees threatened to give out.

“You must be Bella,” Cho managed to say and nodded. “Delighted to meet you.”

Bella nodded back. Cho barely missed the faintest smile on Bella’s face before Bella glanced at Cedric again, not as irritated but still annoyed.

“How do you know her, Edward?” she asked, shrugging.

The question hung in the air longer than it should have.

“Edward?” Bella asked again.

By now Cedric had stood up from the couch and was facing his family with a new kind of stage-fright, frozen in the spotlight of Bella’s blood red scrutiny. His conflicted grimace between Bella and Cho turned into a pained frown, until he couldn’t take it anymore.

“Can everyone else _leave_ except Alice and Carlisle?” Cedric raised his natural accented voice.

No one else flinched except Bella. She craned her neck. Her scarlet eyes became slits.

“Edward…” Bella nervously laughed. “...what’s with the accent?”

_Oh, dear._ Cho lowered her head.

Cho glanced at Bella again: The pale woman’s hands were perched on her slim hips. The gold ring on her left hand matched Cedric’s, but the shimmering, ovular, silver ring on her right hand looked vaguely familiar…

“Come on, Nessie,” the blonde woman said to the little girl before swooping her up in her arms like a doll. “Let’s go play with your friend Jacob!”

“Okay…” the tiniest wisp of a voice left the child’s mouth.

Cho’s heart swooned, if only briefly.

“Where are you guys going?” Bella beseeched.

Jasper followed Emmett and briefly turned back, shaking his head, before leaving. Esme went up to Bella and rested a hand on Bella’s shoulder.

“This is something you need to hear from _them_ ,” Esme spoke softly. “Please understand.”

Bella started to look increasingly anxious as the five other Cullens left the room. Cedric had moved to the fireplace and brooded there. Alice and Carlisle glanced at each other before looking back at Bella.

“You should probably sit down for this,” Carlisle said. He looked at Cho. “ _Both_ of you.”

Cho glanced at Bella, who was about as taken aback by Carlisle’s statement as Cho was. The two of them settled on the opposite ends of the couch. Cho had a hard time trying to sit comfortably, while somehow Bella sat poised, back straight and fingers laced over her crossed leg like a sophisticate.

Alice’s eyes wandered in her own thoughts.

“I knew this day was coming,” she murmured to herself, “but we didn’t try to prevent it.” She came to and looked between Bella and Cho. “But then again, I wouldn’t have changed a thing after we were able to save this boy from a horrible, untimely death.”

She gestured to Cedric, who was still brooding. His eyes glowed in the firelight.

Bella nodded again. “Right, from dying of influenza… But Alice, you weren’t there—”

“No, Bella.”

Cedric spoke again.

“Edward, drop the accent—” Bella started.

Cho winced.

“Bella, this _is_ my accent,” Cedric asserted. “And I didn’t die during the _flu_ pandemic, and—” He stopped himself, fear clutching his throat, but he pressed on. “My name...isn’t...Edward.”

Bella’s face fell. Her eyes became round. Her hands slowly retreated to her lap. Cho watched her carefully; the tips of Bella’s fingers were trembling.

“You can’t be serious…” Bella murmured.

Cho looked away, hugging herself. She instead watched the distant figures outside the window, of the blonde woman and the little girl.

“My real name is Cedric Diggory—”

“No, stop it,” Bella pleaded.

“—and I died in 1995 by the hand of the most vile man to ever walk the earth—”

“Is everything else a lie, too?” Bella interrupted. “After everything you and I’ve been through?”

Cho kept watching the blonde woman holding the little girl in her arms. The pale woman crouched down, and they leapt into a blur, disappearing into the forest.

“Bella—”

“After everything _I_ did for you?” she raised her voice. “I literally changed my life for _you_.”

“And I changed mine for _you,_ love.”

“Don’t—don’t call me that. You didn’t do squat. You _controlled_ me AND you lied to me. You’ve _been_ lying to me all this time. _All_ of you.”

Cho looked back to see Bella standing up again. Her hands were shaking now, threatening to turn into claws.

“Bella...you have to understand the _whole_ story.” Carlisle said. His voice held a natural calm to it that reached Cho’s ears. “We’d been trying to protect him after all these years—”

“From what?” Bella hissed.

“Voldemort.”

Everyone looked at Cho. Cedric slapped a hand over his mouth.

“Who?” Bella squinted at her.

“The most vile, soulless shell of a person to have ever existed,” Cho said.

And Cho recounted and revealed as much as she could of the wizarding world. Of Hogwarts. Of the Triwizard Tournament. Of the third task. Of Harry returning with Cedric’s body, and Voldemort’s return. Of Dementors, Death Eaters, and the absolute stupidity of “pure-bloods” and “half-bloods.” Of the rise of Dumbledore’s Army. (Omitting Marietta’s folly, of course…) Of living with the grief, the fear, and ultimately, the hope that led to victory at the Battle of Hogwarts.

“Since that day, Voldemort has remained dead, mind you, and his followers have either died or been shackled in Azkaban,” Cho concluded, “but the effects of his tyranny still remain in parts of the wizarding world.”

Bella’s hair flipped with how fast she turned back to Cedric. “You were… a wizard?” she asked.

It was the first time Cho saw Cedric snicker since she’d seen him.

“You find it hard to believe I was a _wizard_ , and yet here we are, the four out of five us in this room living off _animal blood_?” Cedric retorted.

Cho felt her heart catch in her throat.

She’d known there was something supernatural about Cedric and his new family… and she’d narrowed it down to a few possibilities after her mad library research. But she should’ve known sooner. The skin, the eyes, the lack of an appetite for anything else… Cho felt herself stiffen.

“We wouldn’t hurt you, Cho.” Carlisle saw her reaction. “No need to fear. We have a vow that’s taken very seriously in this family. Even after just ten years, Cedric’s displayed exceptional self-control.”

“We’re basically vegetarians,” Alice said, grinning.

“Right,” Bella scoffed. She sat back down. Her eyes refused to look at anything else but her lap.

“If I may add more...” Carlisle stepped forward, warily changing the subject. “You must be wondering how Cedric could have survived something as permanent as the Killing Curse.”

Cho blinked. She leaned forward in her seat. She hadn’t mentioned any specific spells.

“Hang on,” Cho said. “Were you _already_ familiar with the wizarding world? Even before you met Cedric?”

Carlisle and Alice glanced at each other, exchanging silent permission to go on before looking back at Cho.

“Yes,” Carlisle replied, “but only fairly recently, right before we discovered him.”

_“Fairly recently”?_ Cho thought. Time must pass much differently for vampires.

Alice continued, “We were actually on our way to meet with the Volturi to discuss the current state of affairs in _our_ world—”

“What’s the Volturi?” Cho asked.

“They’re an elite group of some of the oldest vampires in the world,” Carlisle answered, “who oversee all the comings and goings of covens around the globe. Aro is their leader and, coincidentally, and old friend of mine.”

“They’re like a vampire police, but worse,” Bella murmured. “They sometimes torture and kill to maintain our…’code of ethics.’”

Cho glanced over. Bella’s head hung low; her eyes remained glued to her limp hands resting on her lap.

“And they threatened to take my Renesmee away,” Bella glowered, “over a _misunderstanding_.”

“Thank God they didn’t,” Carlisle sighed.

“We were on our way to visit them...” Alice cautiously continued. “And they had told us to meet them at a cemetery in Scotland, not far from Hogwarts actually.”

“The same cemetery where my mother bought us all a plot,” Cedric added. “She was always a tad morbid.”

Cho and Cedric locked eyes.

Cho almost forgot… She didn’t have the heart to tell him about his mother. Not yet. But would it make a difference at this point? So much has happened in the last eight years...

“It turned out,” Carlisle carried on, “our worlds actually overlap more than you think.”

Cho broke away from Cedric’s magnetic gaze. “So… Any vampires I may have seen around the neighborhood were under the jurisdiction of the Volturi, as well as the Ministry of Magic?”

“Any and all,” Carlisle nodded.

“The Volturi had summoned Carlisle and me because of the very same threat to you and Cedric,” Alice continued. “Vampires who hadn’t pledged their allegiance to the Dark Lord were being killed on the spot.”

“With all due respect,” Cho replied, “why would they call for you two specifically?”

It was Bella’s turn to snicker.

“Because they’re in love with you,” Bella said to Alice without looking at Cho.

Alice rolled her shoulders back in a shudder. “Aro may love my _power._ Maybe Carlisle’s good looks and fierce intelligence. But I’d immolate myself if any of them had the capacity to _love_.”

“Power?” Cho furrowed her brow even more. She didn’t remember learning anything about vampires having specific powers at Hogwarts.

“When a vampire is born,” Cedric answered, “a newborn sometimes carries with them a talent into their new life, and it manifests itself as a heightened power. For example, Alice can see visions of the future. Bella can shield herself and others at will, both mentally and physically.”

_Damn…_ Cho thought. _How does that transmutation even work? Fascinating._ Some of Alice’s past quirks were starting to make more sense. “And what about you?” she asked Cedric.

Cedric’s famous grin fleetingly appeared, before a lingering frustration turned his grin into a grimace.

“I can read minds... _most_ people’s minds,” he reluctantly answered. “I hear other people’s inner monologues constantly buzzing in my head and see a shuffling of mental images and fantasies.”

_But you can’t read mine apparently,_ Cho thought. She decided to quickly test this hypothesis. Surely, he could hear a girl mentally screaming at the top of her lungs.

_AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH YOU BASTAAAAARD!!!!_

“For whatever reason, sometimes I can’t read one’s thoughts,” Cedric said while eyeing Bella and Cho. “Like Bella’s mental shield.”

_Or like right bloody now?! Golden Boy Diggory can’t put his galleon where his mouth is!_

Cedric remained unfazed. Not even a twitch. “Anyway, forgive me, Alice, do continue. I’ll pipe up again when the time’s right.”

_Oy… He really can’t hear me at all._ Cho kept a poker face on.

“I know you will,” Alice smiled. “Just like how I knew where to find you when we were walking through the cemetery that fateful night.”

Alice walked over to a nearby bookshelf and pulled out a thin, ring-bound book and a pencil. She walked back to the coffee table and sat cross-legged on the floor before she opened up the book—a sketchbook—to a blank page and started drawing without looking at the paper. What appeared to be an old cemetery with headstones, sepulchres, and flowers in an open grassy field started to take shape on the page.

“It was in the main field of graves, second row, sixth plot to the end. Still remember it,” Alice said.

She looked down at her handiwork and pointed at a modest tombstone towards the horizon of the drawing.

“On our way to meet Aro, I saw a vision of Edward—I mean, Cedric—in his casket. He was struggling to move. I’ll never forget how chilling it was… Only his hand was moving, horribly shaking, scratching at his casket—”

Cho nearly jumped from her seat.

“ _You were still alive?_ ” Cho interjected.

Cedric looked away and brooded again by the fireplace.

“See, that’s the real mystery that’s haunted me ever since I died,” Cedric said with a cool, even tone. “I distinctly remember being struck with green light… I even remember vaguely an out-of-body experience...of telling Harry to take my body back to my parents. But then—” He returned to stand next to Alice and Carlisle in front of Cho and Bella. “I’d returned to my body, and Harry was at my side, utterly inconsolable. It wasn’t until I tried to get up that I realized _I couldn’t move at all._ ”

Cho stared at him in shock, trying to think of possible spells, enchantments, curses she knew of that could possibly trap one’s consciousness in their own dead body. Why would anyone, even Voldemort, cast such a spell?

“I was _stuck_ ,” Cedric said emphatically. “I was still alive...but for all it’s worth, my body was still a corpse _._ And all I could do was watch, until someone closed my eyes. And then all I could do was listen.”

“Oh my god...” Cho’s throat became a desert. She covered her mouth which refused to close. She wished just for this moment she couldn’t cry, but her eyes brimmed with fresh tears.

Cedric held her gaze. “I saw you. I saw my parents. My poor father. The sight will never leave me.”

“Cedric, if I’d only known—” Cho cried.

“Please. I’d rather not dwell on that.” He sorrowfully shook his head. “I’ve already mulled it over for fortnights on end. The world mourned over me while I heard all their sobs, their arguments. No one could’ve known unless they were looking for it. I was just another cadaver. I was driven mad by feeling so _trapped_ in my own body until the moment Carlisle dug me out of my grave.”

“We honestly weren't sure _what_ Cedric was at first,” Carlisle admitted. “Alice thought someone had buried a vampire in a grave. We'd made such a ruckus unearthing Cedric that Aro and the Volturi he brought came to the digging site.”

Cho tried to imagine the scene: a small group of vampires peering over Cedric's body, surrounded by disturbed and scattered soil, an open casket still laying in the earth.

“I could barely speak, I remember that much,” Cedric said. “It took all of my effort just to move _a little_.”

“You were trying to whisper for help,” Alice added. “I think you even clutched my shirt.”

“And you had no pulse,” Carlisle said. “We were so confused. Thankfully one of the Volturi recognized your name from the Daily Prophet and put the pieces together.”

“Aro wanted to let him _die_ ,” Alice said. She put on a nasally, wizened voice, which Cho assumed was an impression of Aro. “ _He's a martyr of the Dark Lord, let the wizards rally over his death._ ” Alice tightly crossed her arms. “Like hell were we going to do that.”

Cho felt her blood boil. “Good on you.”

Carlisle shook his head. “Aro owed me a debt, so he couldn't touch Cedric.”

“And then,” Cedric said, “somewhere between Scotland and Italy, I was changed.”

“But why 'Edward’?” Bella asked suddenly with an almost acerbic tone. “Why did you have to make up a brand new identity?”

Cho noticed Carlisle grimace. He seemed to mentally debate on what to say next.

“It’s okay, Carlisle, admit it,” Cedric said.

“I did...acquiesce to the Volturi on one thing.” Carlisle glanced over at Cedric. “If I had the choice, I wouldn’t have agreed to it. This would’ve saved you all this grief right now. I’m sorry, Cedric.”

Cedric's face went blank, before a hint of longing creased his brow.

“I thought so… That being said. I could only be changed if I left my old life behind. It was too risky to be brought to someone else in the vicinity who could revive me— _somehow_ . Not with the Dark Lord seeking to purge nearly half the wizarding population. Let alone letting him have the _chance_ to kill me— _again._ I was desperate. And anyway, I didn't want anyone else to see me like this...” A hollow sigh lifted and sank his chest. “So I took the name of one of Carlisle's old patients, who actually died in the flu pandemic in America…” He scoffed. “I just remembered. The cemetery was also named after St. _Edward_ King and Martyr _._ What a riot,” he said bitterly.

“Life works in mysterious ways sometimes,” Carlisle said.

“God, it made the transformation that much more agonizing. A week felt like a second lifetime in hell.”

Cho grimaced. Vampire venom was potent to say the least. But a _week_ ? “I thought a vampire transformation didn't last a _week_.”

“Forget everything you learned from Hogwarts, Cho,” Cedric said, exasperated. “They clearly got it wrong. Or perhaps this is a new evolution our professors overlooked.”

“So that much is true at least,” Bella said.

“Bella, everything _you_ know about vampires is still true,” Cedric insisted.

“Yeah? But everything about the man I loved and married—the father of my _child_ —is bullshit!”

Cho felt another stab in her chest. Then a thought hit her. _Hang on… Vampires can procreate after all? Were they both vampires when they…?_ She was as confused as she was selfishly hurt at the thought.

“My _past_ shouldn’t matter!” Cedric cried. “What matters are the vows we made to each other and what we have _now_!”

“What _matters_ is that you _LIED_ to me on _multiple_ levels! And apparently EVERYONE was in on it. Do you know how _stupid_ I feel right now?”

If there was any feeling worse than feeling out-of-place, it was feeling like an unnecessary guest during a domestic dispute, which this was fastly turning into. At the same time, there was a strange, bittersweet relief Cho felt budding in her chest; someone else shared in her pain, but much, much worse. Cho wasn’t sure how to feel about that.

“I can’t even cry about it...” Bella’s eyes darted all around her. She cradled her head in her shaking hands. “All I feel is—is—!” She jumped up.

Cedric’s eyes widened. “Bella NO—!” He tried to leap in time—

_WWHAMM!_

“WHOA!” Cho shielded her own face from flying bits of wood and water. She peeked from behind the slits of her fingers.

Bella had nearly split the coffee table in half with the heel of her boot. A huge rift of broken splinters still engulfed where her foot stood. Even some of the flooring beneath had become warped. Her trembling hands were balled into fists.

“How am I supposed to believe _anything_ you say anymore?!” If Bella were crying right now, she would be in complete hysterics, unable to breathe from sobbing. But the uniquely vampiric inability to shed tears was like a cork on a shaken bottle, and Bella couldn’t contain herself.

Cho sighed. “For what it’s worth,” she said, “he isn’t lying about the magic.” She looked at a worried Cedric and smiled a gentle smile. “Once upon a time, he was able to do things like _this._ ”

She reached behind and grabbed her wand, still tucked into the holster she still kept on her person underneath her borrowed clothes.

Cedric’s sullen face brightened at the sight of her wand. It was like looking at a little boy finding an old toy he'd lost long ago.

Cho pointed her wand at the damage. “Please stand back.”

Bella reluctantly stepped away from the mess she made. Alice and Carlisle stared mesmerized.

Then Cho swished and flicked her wand. “ _Reparo.”_

Scattered splinters began to fly back to the broken coffee table. The rift began to fuse itself back together, until the coffee table, bit by bit, returned to its original, unbroken state, as if brand new.

Cho glanced over to Bella: the reds of her widened eyes were perfectly round cherries.

“Well I'll be,” Alice said.

“You’re never too old to see something new,” Carlisle said.

Still nothing could extinguish the lingering pain that seeped through Bella’s features. If a vampire could somehow look physically ill, on the verge of suffering sweat-breaking sickness, Bella looked _poisoned._ She clutched at her chest.

Bella quickly glanced at Cho. Cho reeled back; it felt like Bella could see right through her soul.

Then Bella gave the same look to Cedric.

“She said she was an old friend of yours,” Bella said, almost whispered. “Is that true?”

Cho blinked. She gulped. _Dear Merlin, why did I lie to her earlier?_

Any joy left ran away from Cedric’s face. He pressed his lips together in hesitation, never letting go of Bella’s gaze.

“She was my girlfriend,” Cedric answered, just as quietly.

The faintest but wryest grin appeared on Bella’s face, before complete anguish took over her.

“I see,” Bella murmured.

The pale, red-eyed woman then blurred out of sight. She reappeared at the back entrance from which she and the others had entered, her back facing everyone else.

“Bella,” Alice and Carlisle both beckoned.

“I want to be left alone,” Bella answered, her voice so quiet it was almost inaudible. She looked over her shoulder, at everyone else. “Not sure for how long. A day. A week. A month. Who knows. I’ll come back eventually. I just want to be alone for a while.”

“Bella—” Cedric started.

“I swear to God, I am locking all of the windows, Edward—I mean—” Bella snapped and stuttered. Then she _growled._

Cho was taken aback from an actual, animalistic growl coming from a human being.

“Don’t you _dare_ come after me...Cedric.” Bella’s voice dipped in uncertainty at the sound of his real name.

She looked at all of them one last time. When her eyes locked with Cho’s, they weren’t the sharpened daggers they were before, but they were searching for something Cho couldn’t quite tell.

“It was nice meeting you, Cho,” Bella said. She looked back to Alice and Carlisle. “Take care of Renesmee for me.”

Then Bella was gone. A gust of wind followed in her wake.

And Cho felt like wanting to disappear, too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks again for all the kudos and support, that really helps me keep going, aside from pure nostalgia. Any critical feedback though is also welcome, because it's been fun and challenging writing long-form, so any tips or critiques would be greatly appreciated!
> 
> Bella will return. (Eventually.)


	4. Window

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _"The sliver of moonlight beckoned her. She parted the curtains and saw the dense, textured forest and the brilliant star-freckled sky. She opened her window. Just a little."_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you, thank you so much for the people who left kudos since the last time I updated!! (which was...way earlier this year it seems) A lot has happened in my life, and now I'm finally catching up with the things I want to do. Could've sat on this chapter for another month, but I think what it has now is good; any more would bleed into what's in store for the next chapter...

It was 1:42 am on the owl clock in Cho’s room. Her eyes felt heavy, but they couldn’t stay closed. Her bedroom was a tad chilly, but she knew that wasn’t the cause of her insomnia.

 _Merlin, I'm opening the shop tomorrow,_ she thought. _And o_ _f course I can’t sleep. I've only been admiring the flat plaster ceiling for two hours. Shall we make that three hours tonight? My, how fucking smooth and white it is!_

She rolled over and groaned into her pillow. A bystander would’ve thought they’d heard a yeti being smothered.

The necklace still felt utterly _cold_. Ice unmoving against beating skin.

Cho slouched against the headboard. She snatched her pillow and hugged it tightly. Too tightly. She threatened to squeeze out every last of its feathery down.

Yesterday had been an utter mess.

Cedric had insisted he drive her home, but she didn’t want whiplash. Or an even bigger headache.

_“Let me make it up to you,” he said. “What little I can do now.”_

_Cho stared at him long enough to think clearly for the first time that day._

_“No.” She shook her head. Her feet moved back from him. “Go after her, Ced.”_

_And Cho walked out of the house. Alice and Carlisle didn’t stop her._

_She had made it back outside and was about to open her car door._

_Cedric's hand eclipsed hers._

_“Please,” he begged._

_Cho pressed her lips. A deep, hot breath, slowly, in through her nose. And out._

_Then she looked him in the eye._

_His damn eyes. They_ held _her in place. There was something markedly new in his gaze now… but what?_

_And yet the more she looked into his eyes, the more she remembered. His eyes may not have stayed gray, but they were still very much Cedric’s. It was like staring at him across the Great Hall all over again._

_“Goodbye, Cedric.”_

Cho crumpled into herself. She hid in the safety of her long, coarse hair.

She had her memories. She had her necklace. She had grieved. And she had heard what she needed to hear.

That was enough.

She just wanted the peaceful, boring life she came here for. It’s what she wanted— _needed_. But there was always a catch.

She almost forgot about _that_ little letter.

“How could this BBC drama of a life get any worse?” Her mouth was muffled by her hair.

The nightstand lamp was off, but Cho beamed a mental spotlight on the little drawer next to her bed. If only everyone just left her alone, she would be so much happier…

Maybe.

She leaned over to open the nightstand drawer and all but clamped the envelope in her fist. The bedside lamp went on. She inhaled slowly through her nose. Held her breath. Counted to four. Then gave up on 2 and let out a terse breath before looking at the damn thing again.

She didn’t see the seal of the Magical Congress of the United States on the envelope; she saw a brand burned into her skin. A reminder that she couldn’t conduct magic in a vacuum. And yet another reminder of her past life.

The envelope was still ripped open, and the damning parchment was wrinkled inside. Cho opened it once more and re-read it.

 

 

 

 

> _Dear Ms. Chang,_
> 
> _This is your formal warning in regards to your two (2) counts of unauthorized magic performed in a public No-Maj zone (i.e. La Push Beach) at 07:02. You are only allowed one (1) warning for such offenses, after which swift and appropriate action will be taken._
> 
> _Our Aurors detected flight magic in your location, temporarily jinxed your broom, and noted your subsequent illegal Apparation at 07:07. The jinx should break within 24 hours of its first casting. Any and all No-Maj witnesses have had their memories Obliviated or altered accordingly._

 

“I swear I do not remember another soul being there,” Cho thought aloud. Except for Alice and Cedric… But they didn’t count, she guessed. Good grief, can’t a girl ride a broom over a lake in peace?

 

 

 

 

> _Should you perform magic again in a public No-Maj zone, an Auror will come to your location and escort you to our headquarters for questioning._
> 
> _Thank you for your cooperation._
> 
>  
> 
> _Sincerely,_
> 
> _Farai Margo Johansen_
> 
> _Secretary of the Federal Bureau of Covert Vigilance and No-Maj Obliviation_
> 
> _(F.B.C.V.N.O.)_

 

Cho read the word “No-Maj” about five times before remembering what it meant.

“Americans…” She shook her head.  At least the word “Muggle” didn’t sound like a half-arsed observation. Muggles had no magic, but they weren’t defined by just their lack of magic. They were just… mugged off by wizards and witches like _this_ one. Fools without magic being fooled by fools _with_ magic. Stupid, the whole lot of it.

Cho tossed the letter onto the nightstand. The light went off. Her body sank back into her bed. All Cho could see was the darkest hue, like bruised blueberries, veil her eyes. The ceiling looked just as frustratingly flat and smooth just as it did two hours ago.

Her eyes flitted to her bedroom window.

The curtains held back the gossamer moonlight. A sliver of the faintest light hung like a single thin white hair in the dark.

_“I swear to God, I am locking all of the windows, Edward—”_

Is that what Bella said? Cho thought. Odd choice of words. Cho tried to imagine Cedric climbing up to Bella’s window, like some lovesick teenager sneaking around…

Well, if Cedric truly was a vampire, then he basically was still a lovesick teenager. Forever. Right?

Cedric’s corpse cut through Cho’s thoughts.

No, he wasn’t the same person. She could sense bitterness, regret, and...something else…

The way that he looked at her before she left. And the way he held her hand.

And Bella.

Maybe the two of them were lovesick teenagers together. She couldn’t have been that much older than Cedric when she was changed. Cho remembered how he wrapped his arm around Bella; his hand hugged her pale shoulder. They were a matching pair, two porcelain dolls meant to live out the rest of forever with each other.

_Oh God, stop it, please, make it stop—_

Cho felt a prickling behind her eyes. She felt like running. Running wild into the pitch black embrace of the forest. Never to return.

"I'm a bloody homewrecker," Cho sobbed.

Still Cho thought. But why the _windows?_

Cho chewed her bottom lip for a long time. Several minutes. If not another hour.

She rose from her bed.

The sliver of moonlight beckoned her.

She parted the curtains and saw the dense, textured forest and the brilliant star-freckled sky.

She opened her window. Just a little.

As soon as she did, fatigue fell upon her like she’d activated a spell. All she had to do was open a window to finally rest her mind. The bed felt like a kiss against her entire body. But before she let herself be taken completely by sleep, she held out her hand.

“ _Accio wand,_ ” she whispered.

Her wand flew straight to her hand from its holster, which she’d stripped and abandoned on the floor that afternoon.

Cho tucked her wand under her pillow. Just in case.

Then she closed her eyes and dove headfirst into a dreamless sleep.

 

* * *

 

Morning broke.

Cho opened her heavy eyes. Light flooded her vision.

The window was still open just a tad, the same way it had been when she’d left it open.

“Not like the window would close itself,” she thought aloud.

Cho thought about it. She then murmured an incantation.

The window closed.

She chuckled.

It was too early in the day to feel disappointed.

 

* * *

 

Cho approached the back entrance of Papyrella, her hands deep in her cardigan pockets. Her keys jangled like tired windchimes in a thin breeze.

She welcomed the monotony. It wasn’t the soul-crushing kind she’d grown accustomed to in the grand halls and offices of the Ministry of Magic. But the kind that was comforting, reassuring that nothing was going to change anytime soon.

Mornings were slow. Kanako hummed a tune and unpacked some new Easter cards, while Cho loaded some new wrapping paper, her eyes lingering longingly on one roll’s navy raven pattern. A little while later, Mrs. Jane from the Thriftway was looking for another set of thank-you notes to write to her grandchildren. Then James and Charles were seeking custom invitations for their union ceremony. (James had _finally_ popped the question.) And that afternoon, Jessica came by again “just to look; Mike would probably roll his eyes if I splurged on more greeting cards, but he’d love this one! ‘You’re a catch!’ Look at that fishy! So cute.”

It was after Cho rang up Jessica’s three new greeting cards when Kanako gasped.

“Alice! Ohmygod!”

Kanako dropped her broom and leapt to greet the newly arrived pixie woman who’d entered the store. And standing next to Alice was none other than Cedric Diggory, in all his vampiric, hair-moussed glory.

Cho wanted to hex him.

Alice’s eyes briefly met with Cho’s—a glance of acknowledgement—before she she started chatting up a storm with Kanako and a passing-by Jessica.

Cedric’s eyes looked anywhere but at Cho; he walked in silent awe over to the small display table of fountain pens and quills. His lips parted slightly when he picked up a sample quill—a swan feather _—_ and examined it between his thumb and index finger.

“May I help you, sir?” Cho greeted quietly. Her cheerful customer service voice had greatly improved over the past six months.

Cedric raised a quizzical brow; his eyes still admired the swan feather. He simpered.

“If I remember correctly,” Cedric answered quietly, “swans typically form monogamous bonds with their mates which can last their entire lives. Give or take 10 or 20 years. A brief devotion.”

“You are correct,” Cho said, still unsure of where this was going. “And that quill you have there is a genuine swan feather, taken from its natural moulting, so no swans are ever harmed. You sure know your onions.”

“I learned from the best.” Cedric looked at her.

They were a darker shade, this time. Like tarnished gold. Cho felt herself catch her breath.

“I thought I told you goodbye,” she murmured.

“Alice wanted to see you actually. One of her cars is being repaired, and I didn’t want her borrowing one of mine without my supervision.” Cedric switched back to his American voice.

“Cars. As in, _multiple_ cars,” Cho said in disbelief.

“Just two.” His smirk held back a laugh. “When you can't ride a broom, you got to fly around somehow. Jalopies don’t cut it.”

“Uh huh.”

He gently returned the swan feather quill back into its display holder. “She’s about to invite you to a special soirée, from what I’ve heard.”

“Oh really?” Cho raised her brows as she started to absently straighten-up the fountain pens. “Must be special to warrant a visit rather than a text. You didn’t just come along to see me, did you?” she casually added. _Also, duly noted, does he really have_ multiple _cars too, good god,_ she mentally exclaimed.

He glanced over at a chipper Alice, who was almost done speaking with only Kanako now.

“Where’s Bella?” Kanako asked.

“She’s out of town visiting her mom. Edward doesn’t know what to do with himself.” Alice rolled her eyes. “So we’re hanging out right now.”

Cedric paused. “No. I’m just a further disappointment to you.”

Cho suddenly imagined a Howler floating above Cedric and bellowing mercilessly, with him cowering and covering his ears in agony.

In the end, Cho must have made a face that pained Cedric just the same.

“I’m right, aren’t I?” he said.

“You still mercilessly put yourself down,” Cho murmured. “It doesn’t become you. I’m not hearing it. Might as well bury yourself again.”

She looked past his shoulder and tried to ignore how damn tragic his tarnished eyes looked.

“I’m taking a break, Kanako,” Cho called out.

She briefly glared back at the vampire boy. “ _Goodbye_ , Edward.”

She turned away. Her cheeks felt hot. Damn him. Damn the Cullens. Damn it all. She needed some fresh air and Earl Grey stat.

“Wait-wait-wait!” Alice’s voice danced through the air.

Cho spun around and tried not to cringe. It was hard to cringe at such a lovely voice, but she wanted to shrink into oblivion from the two vampires in the room. And that wasn’t happening.

“Hope my brother here wasn’t bothering you too much,” Alice simpered.

Something about Alice put Cho at ease - perhaps, her playfulness that melted the tragedy Cho was just drowning in. It reminded Cho of Marietta, someone who always tried to put a smile on her face.

Cho grinned. “Not at all. So what’s this soirée I’m hearing about?”

Alice rubbed her hands together like she was up to no good. But her closed-lipped smile still seemed contrite, her eyes soft, which clashed with her spikier, shaggy pixie hair.

“Well. I feel like last time we met, things didn’t go as smoothly as they could have. And on behalf of our whole family, I want to apologize for all the hurt we’ve caused you.”

“Oh.” Cho blinked. Someone using their manners and being genuinely kind was refreshing. “Alice, you are so sweet, but there’s no need, really. You did nothing wrong,” she insisted.

Alice took both of Cho’s hands, which startled Cho, but the witch didn’t object.

“It’s only fair, Cho. I can’t imagine what you’ve been through these past years.” Her smile sweetened into a genuine beam of excitement. “So as part-apology, and part-genuine-fun, I’d like to cordially inviting you to the first annual Cullen Girls’ Trip!”

Cho blinked again. “A _girls’ trip_?”

Cedric finally broke his silence with a resigned sigh. “I honestly thought you were joking, Alice. Even in your thoughts, I held out hope.”

“I didn’t plan this for _you._ ” Alice blew a raspberry at him.

Cho snorted. Even adopted siblings were still siblings.

“Yes, it sounds like the premise of a bad chick flick, but rest assured, it’ll be a humble but awesometacular excursion,” Alice beamed. “You, me, even Esme, and Rosalie if she’s amenable—”

“She won’t,” Cedric blurted.

Alice elbowed his side. Cho could have snorted again, but ow, that elbow looked sharp.

“—and Bella, if she’s available.”

The room became briefly filled with thick air. Cho and Cedric both looked at Alice with what must have been the same pallor of fear.

“What?” Alice shrugged. “It may happen, it may not happen. The trip’s happening with or without her. I want to give her space...but...but the olive branch has been extended. We’re driving to Seattle and playing tourist during a rainy weekend. It’ll be perfect!”

Cho thought about it; the last time she embarked on a trip with people she vaguely knew was for the 1994 Quidditch World Cup with a bunch of pen pals and cousins. Funny enough, she’d bumped into Cedric while they were there before she knew who he was. She’d made him spill butterbeer all over his Ireland jersey when she was stepping through the stands. Cho stifled a quiet chuckle. Did he even remember that?

“Sure! Count me in on the itinerary,” Cho said.

Alice beamed from end to end of her spiky hair. It was the brightest Cho had ever seen pale skin naturally glow.

“I can’t WAIT!” squealed Alice.

Cedric suddenly pinched the bridge of his nose in a wince. “My mental and physical ears are bleeding.”

“Why don’t you go ahead to the bookstore, and I’ll meet you there?” Alice gave him a side-eyed glance. “Didn’t you say you were looking for a book to—”

“Yes, I did,” Cedric interrupted quickly. He briefly nodded at them. “Alice. Cho.”

He left with a new sense of urgency and didn’t look back. The bell above the door tinked in his wake. His hands were stuffed in his gray coat pockets, his back hunched like he was avoiding what little light seeped through the overcast sky.

Cho looked back to Alice, an expectant look on her golden-eyed, porcelain face.

Cho pulled Alice into a hug. The petite woman felt stiff, but Alice quickly wrapped her arms in return.

“Thank you,” Cho whispered. “I do appreciate it. Everything. Please know that.”

Alice squeezed back, her arm gently around Cho’s waist. She whispered so quietly and intimately, Cho could crisply hear her lips and tongue press lightly against her consonants.

“You deserve better.”

 

* * *

 

 _“You deserve better._ ”

“Well, of course I deserve better,” Cho thought aloud.

Here she was again, lying awake in the AM. Haunted by another quote by one of her pale-skinned landlords. The more the Cullens opened their mouths, the more confused Cho became. She deserved all the butterbeer in the world tenfold, that much Cho knew. _Of course_ she deserved better, after the nearly decade-long haze Cho experienced.

But nowadays, she felt the same way she did when she saw herself in the mirror every morning: Startled. Unsettled. Disappointed.

“By what? Well, the bags under my eyes, for one.”

Whatever ‘better’ Alice meant was something Cho tried to keep mulling over, even as her eyelids gradually drooped. Her blurry eyes saw the sliver of moonlight from the window.

A draft crept in. Cho pulled up her quilt. Her hand limply touched her wand under her pillow.

“What could be better…?” Her lips went slack.

 

* * *

 

_Creeeeeak._

Cho’s eyes opened.

A dark humanoid shadow crept in the middle of her bedroom.

Sleep still hung like weights under her eyes. Cho panicked.

She grabbed her wand.

A hissed curse. The humanoid shadow lifted its hand.

She gasped.

“ _LEVICORPUS!_ ” Cho heard herself shout.

“NO!” the shadow shouted.

A few terrible THUDS hit the hardwood floor. The shadowy figure had been quickly scooped up by an invisible net and now dangled in the air by his ankle.

“Ow.” A familiar voice. “That actually hurt.”

She turned on her nightstand lamp.

“Cedric!?” She crawled to the foot of her bed.

Sure enough, Cho had turned Cedric Diggory into the most comical human marionette hanging by its foot, while his other limp limbs hung lamely mere inches from the floor. His black long-sleeved shirt had moved up his chest, revealing ridges in his abdomen like an iced mountain wall Cho wanted to feel against her fingertips.

Cedric winced. “Unfortunately.”

Her knuckles around her wand were almost as white as his skin.

“You can’t just _barge in_ through someone’s window in the middle of the night like some bloody rogue!!!” Cho hissed back. She waved her wand at his face. “I could just as well have killed you! Again!”

An incredulous Cedric had trouble shutting his agape mouth. “I’d like to see you try. Though I have to give you credit for that charm, I don’t think I ever learned it. Quick draw, you.”

“Thank you,” Cho said confidently. “You can thank Harry Potter.”

Cedric’s mouth flattened. “Right. Now. If you would kindly release me, that would be splendid.”

“I am not un-jinxing a single tendon until you listen to me, Romeo.”

“But—” Cedric stopped himself. He let out an indignant sigh. His hair stuck up (or down as it was) like the spiky coif in his yearbook picture, but the dark brown locks appeared soft in the dim light. Defeat overshadowed his honey eyes. “You have a captive audience.”

Cho instantly felt guilt stab her heart. _No, Cho; don’t relent. Don’t shut this window._

She lowered her wand.

“Help me understand: A girl was willing to join you in damned eternity because she loved you. She clearly loved you—or at least, the version of you she thought you were. Now, the same girl—your _wife_ , mind you—is mourning the very beating heart she’d given you, for better or for worse. Moreover—”

Cho pointed her wand again at a now-attentive Cedric.

“—another girl clearly told you to bug off. Clearly told you _goodbye_ . And you disrespect _her_ wishes entirely. And all the while, a certain boy seems to have completely forgotten about his _wife_ , because he’s too busy vexing another girl who just wants to be left alone.”

Cedric’s brow twitched.

His wedding bann still resided on his left hand.

“You care about her, don’t you?” Cho murmured. She gulped. “Why bother _me_ then?”

She swished and flicked.

Cedric’s body dropped to the floor. His hands and knees hit the floorboards with an awful THUD, but his face remained unfazed.

“Why did you leave the window open?” Cedric asked.

Now Cho was the one who was silenced. Almost.

“For fresh air. It’s pleasant. You’re avoiding my question.”

Cedric scoffed. He rose to his feet with grace, but he couldn’t look her in the eye. His face became lost in a reverie as he sauntered toward Cho.

“You know. Bella used to put up with my coming through her bedroom window when she and I were first getting acquainted. Her window refused to close—it made this ugly _groan_. So I…”

He hesitated; a roguish but regretful look danced across his face.

“...I took advantage of that. I climbed through her window one night. And I...for whatever reason, or lack thereof...I felt the need to watch her sleep. I felt very protective of her. I watched over her for nights on end. It was maybe a week before she finally discovered me. And we had a whole row about it. But we sorted it out. I eventually fixed her window, of course, it just needed some lubricant. But even after we’d argue, she kept her window open. Every night.”

He smiled briefly; his eyes could have shed a tear.

“Even when I didn’t deserve it.”

He then grew silent, his face shrouded by a dark cloud within. He furrowed his brow so much, Cho wondered if vampires ever grew wrinkles. He turned into The Thinker, now sitting at the edge of Cho’s bed, next to her. He mulled over whatever mire filled his mind for a very long time.

“Cedric…” Cho murmured.

“I’m a creep,” Cedric finally said. “Things should have never been that way. I drove her mad.”

“Am I supposed to feel sorry for you?”

Cedric turned to her. “Beg your pardon?” he retorted.

“She didn’t _put up_ with you climbing through her window. She never knew you were in her bedroom to _begin_ with,” Cho exclaimed.

Cedric winced. He hunched over and looked at his empty palms on his lap. “Look, I never said I was proud of my actions.”

“You’re a voyeur _and_ an intruder now. Add stalking to your resume, too. Just because you’re a vampire doesn’t mean you have to prey on virgin—”

“You don’t think I _despise_ how I act, Cho?” Cedric interrupted her. “I don’t know why I do the things I do anymore. Every time I lose my temper or feel jealousy completely take over me, I cringe! You.... _feel_ more intensely when you’re...a monster. It’s _draining_. And I’m not even alive.”

“A monster?” Cho had to pause. “You’re hardly a bogart.”

Her remark made him actually laugh. “How you ever put up with me is beyond me.”

“You were foolish.” Cho felt the corners of her lips curl up. “You still are.”

Cedric kept laughing to himself. Somewhere in between, Cho allowed herself to join in the quiet, breathy self-deprecation. Her bedroom became a little less cold after that moment.

“Do you know how frustrating it is to finally connect with someone else, only to lose them?” Cedric asked. “After years of swimming in a bubble, hearing everyone else’s thoughts yet feeling more isolated than lying in a coffin. Once you can hear another person’s intentions and deepest desires with no effort, there’s no point in trying to learn more about them.”

“That is rather depressing.”

“It really is like turning off your brain! Do you know how maddening that would feel? You become mentally lazy. All you hear is noise. Mental drivel. Thoughtless thoughts. What’s the point in meaningful interaction anymore?” A small spark lit up in Cedric’s eyes. “But then through the noise, there was a reprieve. I had at least one person in my life who I couldn’t read...”

Cho started to feel her smile fade; she didn’t realize she’d been smiling for that long.

“And then you came here.” Cedric turned back to her. “Fate has a cruel sense of humor.”

“Glad I could be the harbinger of further tragedy in your immortal life.”

Cedric’s own smile was dry. “Still got that sharp wit.” He glanced at the ceiling. “You don’t think it’s strange we both somehow ended up here? A small American town named after eating irons, of all places.”

“That’s exactly what I thought, too!” Cho exclaimed.

Cedric busted out laughing. “Really?”

They shared a hearty laugh. It felt warm in Cho’s chest like the toasty fire in the Hufflepuff common room. Nevermind that she could feel just how icy Cedric’s skin was sitting next to him.

“Though it is such a conundrum that you too are immune to my telepathy,” Cedric said. “I can only guess one possible reason why that would be. Might be a bit presumptuous on my end.”

“And that is?” Cho crossed her arms.

She saw uncertainty appear on Cedric’s face. Then resolution. He turned to Cho, only to raise his brows, as if halting in his tracks. His golden eyes had spotted something below Cho’s face.

“What’s that?” He pointed at her chest.

“A silver chain.”

“Thanks, Watson,” Cedric said dryly. Then he leaned in an inch to peer closer. “There must be something heavy hanging there for it to frame the center of your collarbone so acutely.”

Cho smacked her hand against her chest and leaned back. “Or it’s nothing at all,” she retorted.

“You were never good at lying, either,” Cedric grinned.

Flashbacks of Dolores Umbridge and Marietta’s blemished face briefly traumatized Cho. “Yeah, Sherlock, you caught me there,” she said with a defeated cringe.

Cedric laughed again, only to quickly stop after seeing the look on Cho’s face. He cleared his throat and looked away. “Must be a token from someone special I don’t know about,” he murmured.

The fireplace warmth Cho felt but a moment ago was quickly replaced with a forest fire that reached her eyes.

“How would you know about _anyone_ special in my life? You’ve been _dead_ for the past ten years!”

Cedric couldn’t speak. He wore the face of someone who wanted to right a wrong, but knew better to say nothing at all.

Cho hugged her legs to her chest. Her hair became her hiding place.

They sat in the darkness more quiet than a still lake at dawn.

“Cho.” Cedric’s voice sounded just as quiet and small. “I’m sorry.”

“All that grief for nothing,” she whispered.

A coal dropped in the fire.

“I don’t expect you to ever forgive me—”

“Eight years,” Cho whispered. “I finally felt close to normal eight years after the battle. Three failed relationships and a well-meaning friend, but no one else to meaningfully talk to for _eight_ years.”

Cedric grew silent.

“And when I wasn’t blubbering in front of others, I threw myself into school; and when that went up in flames, I threw myself into Dumbledore’s Army; and into the Ministry. I _hated_ every second of it. But anything to keep me from breaking down.”

Like she was right now. Her hair was wet with the tears slowly rivering from her eyes.

“No one takes you seriously when you’re a teenager, and that does a bloody number on you.”

Cho felt a sob escape her throat. She felt herself shrinking, small enough to curl into a little box filled with darkness.

“They tell you you’re resilient, that you’ll move on, that it’ll get easier to cope with. But it hasn’t. It wont. It bloody won’t. It’s so easy to pretend, but I can only do that for so long before—”

She felt the familiar warmth smoldering in her chest as she cried. But her hands felt so cold, like she’d dipped them in the waters at La Push again.

“Everything slowly fell apart. I had to bury everything. But my _god_ , I just couldn’t.”

She felt her hands reach for the clasp of her necklace. Her body didn’t feel like her own in this moment. Her face was a waterfall hidden by raven black shadows; her eyes were heavy rocks that refused to move away from the sight of Cedric’s hands, pale and radiant in the lamplight. Her fingers worked the clasp, and she gathered the necklace into the cup of her palm.

“I should’ve buried this, too.” She held out the Hufflepuff prefect badge for him to see.

Cho saw Cedric’s hands slowly enveloping hers.

His skin. For the briefest moment, his skin felt normal. His skin felt like home.

Then pure ice volted up her spine and tingled in the back of her neck, summoning goosebumps all over her own skin. Cho was suddenly wide, wide awake.

She felt alive.

Cho finally looked at Cedric. There was a certain reverent awe of rediscovering a forgotten relic.

“You really did keep it,” Cedric said in disbelief.

Cho let herself smile. “Of course,” her voice cracked. “I keep my word.”

Cedric kept beaming ear to ear.  “Feels like yesterday I gave this to you right before…” His voice trailed off, along with his smile.

“Yet it feels like a lifetime ago,” Cho said, hushed.

Silence returned. It settled between them comfortably like another pillow.

Cho started to nod off; her heavy eyes closed and auditory dreams started to fill her head. Alice’s voice. Esme’s laughter. Marietta’s jokes. Owls’ flutters. Cho sorely needed sleep.

“Take me back,” Cedric whispered.

Cho felt her heart lurch. “What?”

“Take me back to the beginning. You remember, right?” He turned away from his thoughts to look into her eyes. “Oh. I’m sorry. You’re dozing.”

Cho’s body grew heavy with fatigue, but her mind jumped down the familiar reel of adolescent memories that refused to stop haunting her.

Her head softly fell onto Cedric’s cool shoulder.

“Oh, Diggory. I don’t think I could ever...forget...”


	5. Liaison

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _Cedric’s face had become grave with concern._
> 
> _“Someone’s here to see you....” He looked Cho in the eye. “And I’d watch out for her.”_

She felt fragments of a cold embrace—a cool touch against Cho’s cheek that left her as quickly as it came. Another chill remained, like a cloud laying beside her.

Cho thought she was still dreaming… Moments from last night started returning to her like droplets of a drizzle, only for realization to rain down on her when she opened her eyes.

Cedric was laying in her bed. A chaste distance away, but still very much  _ close _ to her.

_Stop acting like the two of you shagged, you literally just_ slept _with him… or did you…? No, shut up, you would definitely_ _remember shagging a vampire._

“Are you awake?” she whispered.

There was a pause filled with mourning doves chasing each other outside the window.

“Yes,” Cedric murmured.

His bright eyes greeted her. His eyelashes were more pronounced up close. They were pretty. He was pretty. A decade later, and he looked not a day over seventeen.

_Dammit, now I’m_ _the creep._ “Did you sleep well?” Cho asked. “I had quite a kip. Didn’t realize how tired I was.”

Cedric smiled to himself, holding back his thoughts for a moment. “I haven’t slept since 1995,” he finally said. “But resting my eyes brings back the faintest sense of normalcy. Too bad I don’t have a coffin to sleep in.”

The mourning doves continued to coo. Bright, faded blue light from her window must have meant it was mid-morning. And somehow no matter how much she tried to look anywhere else, Cho couldn’t stop contemplating his eyes: they were an unnatural beauty; a soft gradient of warm yet sharp golds and flecks of yellows that shouldn’t have been able to exist yet somehow were contemplating her in return.

“Must be odd,” Cho said, “not sleeping a wink.”

“I don’t get tired,” Cedric reassured. “Not in the traditional sense. Every now and then, I feel the need to pretend to rest, at the very least to rest my mind.”

“Like last night?” Cho asked.

Cedric blinked. He’d never taken his gaze away from Cho’s. “Especially last night. You have a calming quality about you, you know.”

He finally gave Cho’s eyes a reprieve when he glanced at the rest of her, still comfortably nestled under the duvet. Her thin camisole, however, remained on full display.

Cho pulled the duvet up to her neck. “What is it?”

“Remember the first time we slept in the dorms?” Cedric grinned.

Cho looked at him warily. “Is  _ that _ why you crept through Bella’s window? And why you’re still here?” She wiggled her fingers. “To relive the magic?”

“Admittedly.” He shrugged, his shoulder rubbing against the soft mattress. “Can’t say that didn’t cross my mind. What can I say, I’m nostalgic.”

Cho chewed on her lip. Her emotions felt like tangled strings of yarn of different colours, unsure of where one ended and another began, all intertwined in a frustrating clump.

“Clearly.” She grinned wryly. “Though you didn’t have to break in through a window at Hogwarts.”

Cedric propped himself up on his elbow. He thoughtfully ran his hand through his hair, which held a bronze-like sheen in the dim bedroom light.

“Oh no, it was much easier for  _ you _ to enter the boys’ dorms.”

“Oh? It’s not like I was a regular in  _ all  _ the boys’ dorms.” Cho found herself smiling in disbelief. “My, you’re conveniently forgetting how all the girls in  _ all  _ the houses seemed to know everything about you down to your bloody inseam.”

Cedric laughed. “Oh, please. For the record, I never paid close mind to any of those crazy fangirls—”

“Or fanboys,” Cho added.

“Or fanboys,” Cedric nodded. He then playfully rested a finger over his lips and glanced at the ceiling in exaggerated thought. “My memory is fuzzy, but I think I recall how very eager  _ you _ were to enter my dorm.”

“Are you serious? I was...very vulnerable that night.” Cho crossed her arms. “One moment I’m in the library, and the next thing I know, I black out and wake up ten-thousand leagues under the lake!”

“Oh.” Cedric’s face fell. “My memory  _ is _ fuzzy.” He winced and shook his head like it would restart his mind. “That’s another maddening thing about this.”

He mirrored Cho and crossed his arms.

“All my human memories become more and more muddled as the years pass. You have to make a herculean effort just to remember the good ones. Of course, the traumatic ones linger.”

It looked more like he was hugging himself the more Cho looked at him.

“Why are you here?” Cho asked, genuinely curious. “You never answered me last night.”

“Perhaps I didn’t want to.” He laid on his back, got settled, and closed his eyes. “Oi,” he sighed. “Esme really outdoes herself picking mattresses.”

Cho grabbed her pillow. She sat up, poised herself for a strike.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” Cedric said without batting an eyelash.

“Why? I was a seeker, not a beater. I can barely hit a fly.”

“You could barely catch a Snitch, either,” Cedric grinned.

She slammed her pillow for his stupid, smug face.

A small flurry of feathers blew in her own face. Cedric wasn’t lying there anymore.

“Kidding. You did us proud. Played like a pro.” His voice sounded over her shoulder.

Cho whipped around. “Merlin, vampires really are that fast.”

“Come now, Cho, I thought you were a Ravenclaw.” Cedric could have started giggling like a schoolboy from that shit-eating grin that dwelled on his face. “I only just Apparated the centimeters’ distance to the other end of your bed. Because all vampires are experts at Apparation and aren’t damned abominations left to crawl on this earth.”

Such bollocks warranted another pillow to the face. But Cho resisted. She didn’t want to erase his look of boyish mischief in the moment, (Was he  _ really _ supposed to be in Hufflepuff?) but it was inevitable.

“Seriously, Ced, why are you here?” she asked, looking away. “Laying with me in bed, no less.”

She didn’t need to look back. All she needed in this moment was to hear his voice; hearing him speak in the moment meant he was alive. Even if his heart wasn’t beating.

Moments passed. The mourning doves cooed.

“I want to remember,” he finally said, quiet, reflective. “I thought I wanted to forget, but…now… Perhaps this is a blessing in disguise, if blessings do exist—”

“What is?” Cho asked.

“Seeing you again,” Cedric said with a smile. “Who better to remind me that the world still has magic than—”

He touched her arm.

“—someone like you.”

Cho didn’t know how to react. A certain tension in her chest bloomed, something she hadn’t felt in a long time, longer than she would’ve liked to admit. It almost made the confusion and sadness worth it. Her tangled emotions were unraveling.

“When you asked if I knew how frustrating it was to connect with someone else, only to lose them,” Cho replied, “do you know how actually frustrating it was to hear you say that?”

His touch went away, but she could tell his fingers hovered close above her skin. The duvet had fallen to her lap, leaving her shoulders bare.

She looked at him. Her hair framed her vision of Cedric with thick black lines, hairs that lingered on her face.

“Please, forgive me,” he said. “I was waffling on about my damn self last night. I can’t apologize to you enough, Cho.”

Cho wanted to hate him. So much. The heat in her cheeks and the tingling in her eyes only confirmed it. Her fingers formed fists, quivering.

Cedric leaned in closer, an earnest glimmer in his eye. His fingers tentatively reached for her, then went ahead and brushed the hair out of Cho’s face.

“You of all people would know—” he started.

“I never want to lose you again,” Cho blurted.

Cedric’s eyes flashed.

His hands ghosted to her cheeks.

Cho’s breath left her.

His cold touch was electrifying. Not a piece of parchment or a cup of tea, or even a trek through the trees, could give her the same rush she felt under his touch.

“I’ve missed you,” Cedric sighed.

He moved even closer. His eyes were penetrating.

“There were so many things I took for granted before.” He studied her face. “Blushing cheeks. A racing pulse. A palpable vulnerability you can spread with a knife.”

“You feel it, too?” Cho murmured.

“Sweet and heady,” Cedric murmured back.

Cho closed her eyes. Instead of his breath, she only felt the cold of his skin so close in front of her face. His hands slithered from her cheeks down to her shoulders, until she felt his nose ever so slightly graze the crook of her neck.

“You smell like home,” he said, hushed.

Cho clutched the edges of her duvet.

“Stop,” she said quietly, with a pained expression.

Cedric lingered at her neck for half a breath longer. Then the cold left her neck. His grip on her shoulders grew more gentle.

“There’s always a risk I might hurt you, Cho. Quite literally, you are more fragile than you think.”

Cho opened her eyes to see a contrite Cedric. With his stupid styled hair.

His face was all she could see. He filled her world. 

The space between them grew smaller; her breath, shorter.

“Then maybe we shouldn’t,” she whispered. “Maybe you should go.”

An anxious furrow fixed itself in Cedric’s brow.

Cho felt her stomach go into knots. “Or maybe not. I don’t know. I don’t know anything anymore.”

“It’s so endearing when you don’t know what you want,” Cedric murmured.

“Oh, stuff it.”

Cho stared at Cedric like it was the first time, drinking in every detail to make sure she wasn’t making a mistake. (Though only time would tell, she thought.)

She cupped his jaw. It was smooth and cool like her bedsheets on a chilly morning.

Cedric’s eyes widened.

She pulled him in. Cho shut her eyes. 

Their foreheads touched.

“Are you sure?” he whispered.

“Please.”

She pulled him more.

“I...can’t,” Cedric said.

He gently lowered her hands, his fingers around the pulse in her wrists.

Cho could barely speak. She slowly opened her eyes. “Why?” 

Cedric’s face had become grave with concern.

“Because someone’s here to see you. They’re at the door.” He looked Cho in the eye. “And I’d watch out for her.”

 

* * *

 

A sycamore of a woman stood at the front door.  Her medium-length champagne hair was cut clean and bluntly. Her blazer and shirt bore not a single wrinkle. Her light blue eyes seemed small but sharp above her apple cheekbones.

This woman belonged in New York, not Forks.

“Ms. Chang?” the woman said. A firm tone, an American accent. Or at least, not an English one.

Cho blinked. “Can I help you?”

A smile that didn’t reach her eyes appeared on her face. She held out her hand, which was covered in a black leather driving glove.

“I’m Farai Johansen of the Federal Bureau of Covert Vigilance and No-Maj Obliviation of the Magical Congress. I’m the one who wrote you.”

_ Oh shit. _

“Ah. Pleasure, Madam Secretary.” Cho shook Farai’s hand - a firm handshake. “I don’t believe I’ve done any more illegal magic, save double parking without getting side-swiped.”

“No,” Farai conceded, “but after further inspecting your record, I realized just how close you were to the Ministry of Magic and other classified events. So I thought I’d pay a visit.”

Cho held onto the door jamb. “If it’s about using the Floo network, I can pay the fine,” she admitted. “Please, do come in.”

A few galleons and two fresh cups of Earl Grey later, the expatriate witch and the Congress auror sat at the kitchen counter. Farai never took off her gloves.

“You look rather comfy,” Farai noted. She took a sip. “Enjoying a day off?”

“Indeed,” Cho said, smiling. She absently bit her lip before sipping some tea. “I couldn’t leave my bed.”

Farai nodded. “Too relatable.” Her eyes wandered around the kitchen and living room area of the cottage, in all its avian ambiance. “I see you’re fond of the mail carrier.”

Cho laughed. “Not any more than the next witch. One of my landlords, she’s fond of owls.”

“Interesting.” Farai kept smiling, until gradually it faded away the more she observed the room. “I’m going to ask you a few questions, Ms. Chang—”

“Please, call me Cho,” she said, swallowing her nerves.

“—Cho, yes.” Farai flashed a smile. “I’m going to ask you some questions, and I want you to answer as truthfully as you can.” Farai shifted her head to look up at Cho. “It is within the interest of the Congress and, by proxy, the Ministry.”

She narrowed her eyes at Farai. “What is this about?”

Farai didn’t answer. The auror reached into her blazer and pulled out a small, thin vial sealed with a cork. In it was a liquid that looked no different than water.

Cho spat back her tea.

“You must cooperate,” Farai said, cold and collected. “Otherwise, I’ll have to resort to this.”

“Are you insane?” Cho retorted. “I’m an ex-Ministry clerk, not an Azkaban candidate!”

Farai didn’t blink. “I have my methods. Yours is a curious case of which I personally want to learn more.”

“I can assure you, my case has been going quite boringly until fairly recently.”

“Then there should be no problem. Now. Riddle me this, Cho.”

Farai slipped the vial back into her inner blazer pocket.

“What is your relationship with Carlisle Cullen?”

Cho looked at Farai like she’d just polymorphed. “He’s my landlord. One of them. Along with Esme, his wife - the one who’s fond of owls. She really takes care of this cottage like another child. One of my da’s uni friends recommended I find lodging with them.”

Farai took a moment to appraise Cho. “And what about his daughter, Alice? What’s your relationship with her?”

Cho felt her heart quicken. “I met her at the record store. Sue me.”

“But Alice was also there the same morning you illegally flew your broom at La Push. Can you explain that for me?”

“Wait. How did you—?”

“Answer the question.”

“She…” Cho hesitated. “...she was nice enough to have brought me a change of clothes after I took a dive. She didn’t see me flying by the time she got there.” Cho quickly grabbed another sip; she wanted to hide behind her teacup.

“And someone else was there with her as well, right?”

Cho choked on her tea. She could’ve coughed up another cup.

“Are you alright, Cho?” Farai calmly asked.

“I’m not sure,” Cho choked. “I mean, I’m not sure if there was someone else.”

One of Farai’s gloved hands reached back inside her blazer.

“You know, there’s this lovely serum I have with me that would go well with your tea,” Farai said.

“If you already know the answer, why are you asking?” Cho gripped the edge of the dining counter. “Why beat about the bush?”

“I need confirmation.” She leaned forward and locked eyes with Cho. “Who else was with you and Alice?”

Cho looked away from her hand and straight into this woman’s pupils, tiny black pricks surrounded by a bright intrusive blue.  _ What was her deal? _

“Edward Cullen,” Cho said calmly. “Alice’s brother. Alice brought him along for the ride.”

Farai’s tiny black pupils continued to pierce Cho.

Cho cocked her head to the side. “Does that answer your question?”

Farai suddenly whipped a wand out between them.

Cho gasped. “ _ Expellia—!” _

“ _ Legilimens, _ ” Farai whispered faster.

Cho’s jaw went slack. Her mind went blank. An unshakable feeling of nakedness washed over her. She could  _ feel _ this woman invade her mind.

And then. Memories. A whole flood of memories.

Days in the library. Nights in the dorms. Quidditch. Hogsmeade. The Yule Ball. The lake. The prefect bathroom. The labyrinth. The funeral.

“S..top,” Cho whimpered.

Ministry daze. Lackluster lovers. A day at the bookshop. Jet lag. The cottage. The Cullens. The grocery store. Cedric at the grocery store. Edward in the yearbook. Cedric. Cedric.

The last thing Cho saw was Cedric’s pained expression—at La Push, at the Cullens’, in her room.

A gasp.

Farai’s face came back into focus: she looked like she’d witnessed a car crash.

“You poor girl,” the auror managed to whisper.

“How dare you!” Cho jumped to her feet. “You unethical twa—!”

“So you really didn’t know?” Farai pressed.

“Know  _ what? _ ”

“You didn’t know Cedric Diggory was in Carlisle’s custody, and yet you traveled all the way here to Forks?” Farai asked incredulously.

Cho stared at her.

“No. No, I had no idea.”

Farai’s brow creased. Her previous confidence was considerably diminished.

“I see.” She took a long sip of tea.

Cho felt her lips trembling.

“That has got to be the biggest coincidence of the century,” Farai remarked.

“You...you knew?” Cho pointed at her. “You  _ knew _ ?”

“My team and I had reason to believe that you knew Mr. Diggory’s location, since you’d made contact with Carlisle, who is one of our liaisons, and seemed to have arranged a meeting at La Push that morning. Or so we thought.”

“Liaisons?” Cho tried to hide the trembling in her hands by sipping some more tea. “For the most part, I’ve only been in contact with…”

Cho felt so stupid.

“...a coven of vampires.” 

Why didn’t she think her old world and new world were more connected than she thought?

“You mean the Cullens?” Farai asked.

Cho slowly nodded.

“Mhmm.” Farai nodded. She seemed to have a better gauge of Cho’s understanding. “Carlisle has worked with the magical world for quite some time.”

“Oh.” Cho craned her neck forward. “How?”

“He’s been a consultant on vampiric cases and a preferred liaison to the vampire world. For instance, if we need to contact the Volturi, we do so through Carlisle. It’s more diplomatic that way.”

Cho raised her brows. “Is that so?”

“Whole truth,” Farai said. “I don’t think Carlisle had planned on changing Cedric, at least based on our intel; but, for the sake of Mr. Diggory’s and the magical public’s safety, the Congress  _ and _ the Ministry kept record of his location confidential.”

Cho’s teacup clattered against its dish.

“I don’t believe this. I  _ can’t _ believe this. I mean, I wasn’t his wife, mind you—Christ, we were only teenagers—but I can’t believe I  _ never _ knew this.”

The tears dwelling in her eyes were hot liquid anger.

“ _ No one ever told me he was okay, _ ” she shouted. “And yet,  _ everyone in the goddam universe seemed to know apart from ME!” _

It was the first time Farai showed fear. “It’s alright, Cho—”

“No, it’s not,” she sobbed.

“—you’re not in trouble with the Congress—”

“The HELL with the Congress! The Ministry! Sod all of it! Even after working in the bloody Ministry of bloody Magic, I NEVER knew this!!! I had nothing to worry about!!! Everyone thought I’d gone bonkers, and they weren’t WRONG!”

“You aren’t the only one who never knew, and who still doesn’t know about Cedric,” Farai answered.

Cho felt the room spin. “His poor parents. His father. God, his mother will never know—”

“And nearly every other magical civilian is blissfully ignorant. At the end of the day, you were still able to move on and lead a meaningful life. And Cedric has been in good hands all these years.”

“Does it  _ look like  _ I was able to move on?” Cho shouted. “Does it look like I became a well-adjusted adult to you right now?”

“Frankly, I’m surprised you haven’t reached for your wand again,” answered Farai.

“Or your throat,” Cho retorted.

She sprang forward—her hand thrust toward the auror.

Another hand grabbed her wrist.

“I think we’ve all heard enough,” Cedric said with chilling calm.

He let go of Cho, who was still recovering from her heart jumping from her chest.

Farai wore an equally haunted face at the sight of Cedric. “Mr. Diggory.”

“Ma’am, I appreciate the transatlantic level of concern I’ve been given, but I think you should leave,” Cedric said.

Cedric reached for Cho’s hand.

She squeezed his fingers.

Farai rose to her feet. Her eyes darted between the two of them.

“I’m sorry to have disturbed the both of you.”

Cho’s chest felt more hollow now, emptied of anger. “I feel like a fool.”

“I’m so sorry, Cho,” Farai said. “I didn’t realize you’d find out this way—”

“Leave,” Cedric insisted.

Farai raised her brows. She carefully stepped past them and started toward the door. On her way, Farai spotted one of the many owls in the living room - a golden fowl with a rather larger, ovular feathered head with smaller round eyes, atop a squat feathery body, which sat on the bureau by the front door.

“My, that’s a boreal owl,” Farai murmured.

“I said  _ leave _ .” Cedric stepped toward the auror.

Farai sighed and adjusted her gloves.

“Very well. I may not be able to change your past, or truly undo any damage you’ve suffered,” Farai said, “but I can allow you two some leeway, should you ever find yourself using magic among No-Maj’s in the near future.”

Cho nodded, feeling a bit hopeful for the first time in years. “Thank you.” Cho smiled. “Now get out of our house.”

Farai tapped the side of her nose with a leather fingertip. “You’ll never know I was here.” She looked at Cedric. “No Obliviating required.”

 

* * *

 

Cedric crossed his arms, as if doing so was the only thing preventing his seething anger from propelling him through the window panel in the door.

“She was bluffing, by the way,” he said, tense. “Her vial was filled with water. What a charlatan.”

A car engine roared to life outside.

“And her luxury car is  _ used _ .” 

Cho wrapped her arms around his waist. Her cheek rested against the soft bumps of spine she felt through his shirt.

“You’re horrible.” Cho suddenly felt exhausted. But she couldn’t help but smile.

“Anyone who threatens you like that deserves more than some cheeky lip behind her back,” Cedric continued. His hands smoothed over hers. He held her in place.

They stayed standing, embracing, reflecting, not wanting to move for a few moments more.

“All these bloody owls,” Cedric said softly, “and not one of them can tell my mum and dad how much I miss them.”

Cho paled.

“And Carlisle.” Cedric grew silent. He heaved a heavy, empty sigh.

Cho opened her mouth to speak, but instead her stomach growled louder than a three-headed dog.

“Oh dear,” Cedric said. “That’s right. You need to eat.”

“God.” Cho pressed herself against him. “I just want to pretend everything’s normal and go out like anyone else in this damn town. Alice has the right idea.”

He took one of her hands and slowly spun her around to catch her eye.

Cho had the briefest moment of deja vu, but shook it away.

“Want to grab a bite with me?” She looked at him expectantly. “Could use the company.”

Cedric pulled her in closer. He gently held her chin with his fingertips.

Cho didn’t recoil; but her warm cheeks betrayed her.

He grinned.

“Grabbing a bite means something drastically different for me now,” Cedric said. “But I would love to accompany you for breakfast.”

Cho bit her bottom lip. “Now you’re just being a jerk.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to anyone and everyone who's followed this story so far! Life hasn't really allowed me to stick to a regular updating schedule, but based on my notes, this should be the last expositional chapter before things really pick up. (Unless of course Cedward has something to say about it.) #CullenGirlsTrip2007


	6. Bite

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _“And where are you taking me, Edward?” she said louder, more exasperated._
> 
> _His stupidly moussed hair bounced as he turned to look at her with an unexpectedly serene, faint smile. A face of someone who found a beloved’s anger endearing but without relishing in their pain; a face of someone clinging to a small piece of hope._
> 
> _“A meadow.”_
> 
> _\---_
> 
> _“To family,” Esme toasted._
> 
> _Rosalie raised her glass. “To making amends.”_
> 
> _Cho’s wine glass trembled in her hand._
> 
> _“And to new beginnings,” Cho heard herself say._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thought it would be good to post this on the last day of 2018 - such a great year for nostalgia and the 10-year anniversary of the Twilight movie, which definitely inspired and motivated me more to keep going with this fic. As always, thanks for reading, any feedback is greatly appreciated, and enjoy the oncoming d r a m a.

“God, both of you really space out.”

Cho flinched. “Hm?”

Alice laughed, her head hitting against the headrest. Esme’s soft laughter sounded behind them from the backseat, with her nose in a paperback.

“Oh.” Cho tucked her feet under her knit blanket. She felt a yawn coming on. “The road is really—”  _ And there it is.  _ She arched her back as she stretched and yawned for a small lifetime.

“Boring?” Alice added.

“Quite.” Cho wiped a stray yawn-tear from her eye. “I’m not good with longer road trips. I even fell asleep in the airport shuttle.”

“It’s less than three hours away now. Plenty of time to space out as you please.” Alice pressed on the gas and smiled. “Of course, we could bump up the ETA.”

“Alice.” Esme turned a page in her book.

“Yes, mother.” Alice eased off the gas. The car returned to its previous interstate speed. “Either way, we’re going to beat Rosalie there. Thought we could have some fun.”

Cho curled up under the blanket and closed her eyes. Her socks slid against the leather seat.

“You can add some fun with that  _ impeccable _ taste in music you kids have,” Esme added.

Cho smiled. “I can hear the air quotes around that word.”

Alice chuckled to herself. She quickly turned on the windshield wipers to clean off the oncoming drizzle. “Frankly, I’d rather listen to the dulcet tones of Matt Bellamy than my own thoughts right now.” She pressed the play button on the car CD player. Her skin appeared chalk white against the black dashboard.

“Anything you want to talk about, sweetheart?” Esme asked.

Alice glanced at the witch, then back at the road. A sheepish look briefly danced across the vampire’s face. “Maybe another time,” Alice said quietly.

They sat in silence for a few miles. The sky rolled above them in a drizzly, overcast haze, dipping the tops of the tallest trees into its clouds. Cho watched the verdant forest fly past her window until her eyelids started to weigh heavier and heavier. The apocalyptic melodies and alien-like bass guitar from the car speakers made for some vivid hypnagogic half-dreams.

“You’re thinking about Bella,” Esme murmured.

Cho’s ears perked, but she couldn’t keep listening for long.

“She’s in a better state now, I think,” Alice said. “Otherwise she wouldn’t be riding with Rosalie.”

 

* * *

**Two weeks before.**

 

 

_ Somewhere on the way to breakfast, Cho and Cedric got to talking. And they couldn’t stop. It helped that their destination was a ways away but not too far. And Cho took to talking and driving, something she hadn’t really done before. _

_ “You remember how we met right?” Cedric asked. _

_ “Mhmm. Officially and unofficially. I’ve always known of you, though.” _

_ “Really?” _

_ “Hard to ignore buzz about the Hufflepuff seeker with high marks and a pretty face. Plus your Seeker game was almost unmatched.” She grinned. “Almost.” _

_ Cedric stroked his chin thoughtfully. “You weren’t so bad yourself. But I only had high marks and a fighting chance against a bloody dragon because you helped me with Charms that year. You were Flitwick’s pet.” _

_ “Whatever,” Cho laughed. “That was your opening line to reel the ladies in. Tutoring. Classic. Googly-eyed jock asks oblivious nerd to tutor him, then later on asks her to the Yule Ball as a thank-you.” _

_ Cedric bashfully hunched in his seat. “I’d like to think it was more than just a thank-you date.” _

_ “Oh, the Yule Ball,” Cho sighed as she swerved into a tight turn on the road. _

_ “Easy now—” _

_ “That was a grand time. Remember the mosh pit? A Beauxbaton girl crowd-surfed with Myron Wagtail during the encore.” _

_ Cedric paused to think. “Faintly. I think I kissed you before the night ended.” _

_ Cho remembered. She almost missed the exit, but she quickly switched to the right lane. She smiled. “You were trembling like a leaf.” _

_ Cedric laughed. “We kissed quite a bit after the Ball.” _

_ A series of places on and off campus flashed in Cho’s head. “Of course that’s a clearer memory for you.” _

_ “And not for you either?” Cedric grinned. _

 

* * *

“Helloooo, Seattle,” Alice gleamed.

Cho woke to see her window covered in a waterfall of rain. It had gotten colder. Cho hugged her legs closer to herself under the blanket.

Lightning whipcracked. Thunder roared across the sky.

“Gracious,” Esme exclaimed. “What a warm welcome.”

Alice giggled. “My kinda weather.”

Streams of colored street lamps and neon lights seeped through the gray and blue rainfall. The windshield wipers drummed frantically against the downpour. Cho’s eyes struggled to find the digital clock on the dashboard: half past 5 in the evening. The sky was so dark, it felt much later.

“Are we almost to the hotel?” Cho’s voice cracked.

“Not yet, my dear,” Esme said. She patted the back of Cho’s seat. “You can rest a little longer.”

As if the matriarch cast a bewitched sleep on her, Cho conked out.

 

* * *

_ Inside the diner, Cho took a deep breath and welcomed the greasy, decadent aroma of American breakfast fare. _

_ “So you’re going to sit and watch me eat the entire time.” It was less of a question and more of a quizzical statement. _

_ “Don’t worry, I’ll taste the bangers vicariously,” Cedric said. “I already smell them.” _

_ “And I’ll be smelling them on my clothes for days after,” Cho beamed. “Yummm.” _

_ The diner was a low-ceiling cave of a room. White light from the window blinds cross-hatched with the sunny-side yellow beams from the ceiling fixtures. There were booths all around and chrome stools at the coffee bar by the kitchen, all of which bore the same red, peeling pleather cushions. A distant oldie rocked and rolled from unseen speakers, and Cho nodded her head to the steady beat and guitar. Cedric started singing along to it perfectly. _

_ “Huh. My dad liked Chuck Berry. He owned some of his 45’s.” Cedric sighed. “I blame Arthur Weasley.” _

_ Cho nodded. “I remember. Your dad joined us for tea once in Hogsmeade and talked about his record collection. Remember when…?” _

_ They exchanged more Remember When’s at their booth, occasionally interrupted by their waitress, who looked like she wanted to eat Cedric with a side of grits. Cedric switched to his American accent whenever she came by. _

_ “I still can’t fathom why people look at me like  _ I’m _ the banger,” Cedric stage whispered across the table, “when I could literally bite their heads off if I wanted to.” _

_ “Look at you, Mr. Conceited—and morbid.” Cho leaned back in her seat and sipped her orange juice. “You have to admit: you and your new family look like descendents of Veela four times removed. Can you blame the poor saps? Is Carlisle a Veela?” _

_ Cedric looked like he wanted to laugh, but he contemplated his cup of water a moment longer. “There’s a lot more to Carlisle than I’d thought.” _

_ Cho peered over her cup. She couldn’t help but note his wedding ring again, shining like a torch in front of his mottled plastic cup. How could a small piece of metal hold so much power over a person? _

_ She touched the silver chain around her neck. _

 

* * *

Alice sprinted with the luggage trolley like a kid with a shopping cart.

“We’re all still children on the inside,” Esme remarked.

Cho bit her lip and chuckled. Alice was undeniably cute when she was excited.

The witch yawned and adjusted the blue and yellow knit beanie atop her head. She watched the mad Alice dash towards the hotel front counter. The pixie vamp whizzed past an indoor fountain and faint reflections of the pouring rain from the glass panels on the high, high ceiling. A blonde and a brunette, both with long, flowing waves of hair, were at the front counter, their backs facing Cho.

“The party’s all here!” Alice nearly squealed. “Damn, how’d you guys get here before us!?”

The brunette turned around. “Curb your enthusiasm,” the pale, yellow-eyed brunette smiled meekly.

“I haven’t seen you in forever, girl,” Alice murmured while she wrapped her arms around the brunette. “Can’t help it.”

Bella.

Cho gulped.  _ Time to put on a good face.  _

The two of them caught eyes. Bella’s smile turned flat.

“Hi, Bella,” Cho smiled.

Bella nodded. “Cho.”

They both raised their hands in similar, self-conscious waves.

_ At least she thinks this is as awkward as I do. _

Cho blinked. She almost missed it, but she saw it:

Bella’s ring finger was bare.

“Hey. You smell nice.” A Mona Lisa smile appeared on Bella’s face.

Alice looked over at Cho with a coquettish grin, as if the vampire could blush. “She does, doesn’t she? It’s very subtle, but very pleasant.”

Cho’s brows arched underneath her knit cap.

Rosalie immediately turned to Esme.

“I have to step out.”

Cho tried not to stare: Rosalie’s eyes were dark, pitch black irises. They were circles of coal compared to her sisters’ eyes. And Cho didn’t want to look into Bella’s anymore, whose gaze still lingered in the corner of Cho’s eye...

Esme touched Rosalie’s arm. “You didn’t...eat? Didn’t Carlisle—?”

“I was babysitting,” Rosalie snapped. She leaned in closer. “And not just Nessie,” she whispered, almost mouthed.

The black circles in her eyes bounced to Bella (who was conversing and holding hands with Alice), then spotted what appeared to be a walkway to a hotel restaurant around the corner. A musician was noodling a jazz melody on the baby grand piano at the entrance.

“I might get the rarest steak they have as an appetizer until I can hunt—”

“Rose,” Esme said sternly. She lowered her voice. “Be careful. I can go with you later if you’d like. There was plenty of forest on the way here.”

The blonde glanced at Cho, her dark eyes suddenly aware of Cho’s existence.

“Oh. Hello, Cho.” Rosalie cleared her throat. She fixed her hair and smoothed the collar of her peacoat. “Pardon me. It’s been a day.”

Cho nodded. “No worries. I’d love to join you if you’re serious about that steak.”

Rosalie breathed in through her nose and let out an audible breath, something Cho didn’t expect to look so...natural.  _ Was she really breathing, or was her body simply going through the motion?  _ Cho almost forgot the beautiful woman wasn’t human.

“You know what?” Rosalie squinted and nodded. “That sounds killer-diller actually. Dining out. Actually eating among civilized people.” She smirked at Alice and Bella. “Outside of a school cafeteria.”

 

* * *

_ At one point, Cho and Cedric were arguing which powers of attraction were more powerful between vampires and Veela, when Cho spotted an ancient jukebox sitting in the opposite corner of the room. That must have been the source of the music. _

_ “Ooh, hang on, let me change the song.” Cho got up and nearly skipped over to the machine. _

_ She heard Cedric laughing behind her. _

_ The jukebox was aglow from faux-neon bulbs embedded in the frame. The selection buttons squeaked like mice when she pushed them (and she really had to poke the damn things). The jukebox seemed analog enough to allow her to casually use it without a short circuit. She flipped through the album art from A to Z. _

_ “Your food’s arrived,” Cedric hummed over her shoulder. _

_ Cho internally gasped—she didn’t hear him approach at all. But she kept her cool. “Five more minutes, mum.” She punched the buttons back and forth. Mod rock? Or maybe glam rock? Classical? Or flirt with American country? Ooh, why was Lily Allen here? _

_ “Let me.” Cedric motioned for her to step aside. _

_ “What, afraid my taste in music’s better than yours?” Cho smirked. _

_ “You wish,” Cedric smirked back. “I just want to deter those truckers over there.” He nodded his head toward a direction behind them. “They thought they could make a pass at you.” _

_ “Oh.” Cho glanced behind her. _

_ A trio of middle-aged men wearing nearly identical netback caps, all of whom looked like they emerged from the same hairball, quickly glanced away from Cho. Their coffee mugs suddenly became more interesting to look at. _

_ Cedric wrapped his arm around her shoulders. _

_ Cho stiffened. “I appreciate it, but I think I could’ve managed. I don’t really think they were going to accost me.” _

_ “One of them was seriously considering it,” Cedric grimaced. _

_ Cho suddenly didn’t feel like standing at the jukebox anymore. She wasn’t sure if she was more disgusted at the truckers’ prospect, or more afraid of Cedric’s tight grip around her shoulders. _

_ If he’d held on any tighter, he would have hurt her. _

 

* * *

 

Cho blinked out of her reverie. She rubbed her left shoulder. 

“I’ll have a rare, rare eight-ounce steak with a glass of your merlot, please.” Rosalie smiled a tight-lipped smile. Her dark eyes complemented the dim, marigold, ambient lighting of the restaurant.

_ Merlot? I guess the night is young.  _ “I’ll have the same thing,” she smiled at their server.

Rosalie rested her hand on their server’s uniform sleeve.

“Can we skip the salad and go straight to the wine before our entrées?” Her voice lowered into a husk. Her lashes lowered above her eyes as she batted them slowly.

“We’ll go ahead and share a bottle for the table,” Esme added, smiling.

The waiters eyes bounced among the three women like nervous pinballs. “Y-yes ma’am, you got it,” their server laughed nervously. The bumbling kid fumbled with his pen and notepad. 

Rosalie tucked her yellow hair behind her ear and mouthed “thank you” to him as she, Cho, and an amused Esme watched him leave the table.

The three women laughed.

“Go easy on the boy, Rose.” Esme grinned and patted Rosalie on the arm.

“Oh, never,” Rosalie said.

Cho watched the two women interact. At times they acted like mother and daughter - Esme lightly berating her daughter and fixing her hair or her blouse button. And the next moment, they were two sisters, old girlfriends reminiscing, friends who hadn’t spent quality time quite like this in a long time. Years, maybe. Or maybe they never had, and this was the first time the two women were truly letting down their hair.

Once the wine arrived, Cho hid behind her own wine glass, if only just to keep observing these beautiful women.

Rosalie slowly relaxed in her chair, while still somehow looking like a coy model posing in a Rimmel advert; she knew her effect on those who couldn’t help but admire her. Cho watched Rosalie run her fingers through her bright wavy hair, which held an otherworldly sheen alongside her already supernatural beauty. A more reserved Esme kept her fingers wrapped around her glass, but even she held her own nonchalant charm, like a pale Mucha muse reclining with her merlot.

“To family,” Esme later toasted.

Rosalie raised her glass above her bitten steak. She glanced at Cho. “To making amends.”

Cho’s wine glass trembled in her hand. She felt lightheaded. She smiled.

“And to new beginnings,” Cho heard herself say.

Their glasses tinked. More wine was drunk. Steak was heartily eaten.

“Well, I eat it more as a warm, chewy lollipop with a savory flavor profile,” said Rosalie between mouthfuls. “And then, much like my old batch mates who joined sororities, I’ll be throwing it up later.”

Cho bent over laughing. “My God! There are in fact blood-flavored lollipops that a wizard sells across the pond, so you don’t have to puke your poor guts out!”

“Now you’re talking!” Rosalie held onto the table. “Esme, we  _ have _ to get some. Is there an Amazon store for them?”

Cho blinked. “A what?”

The room started to tilt as the night went on.

_ Oy. Who knew I’d get squiffy with a couple of vampires? _ Cho thought.

“Squiffy?” Rosalie laughed.

Cho slapped a hand over her own mouth. She giggled. 

“My dear,” Esme drawled. “Were you thinking out loud?”

Cho blushed. “Perhaps,” she murmured. Her lips were still wet with merlot. The strong scent of red wine filled her senses. Much like the way Rosalie’s jeweled hand zealously refilled Cho’s glass. A few wild drops splattered on the white linen tablecloth.

And if Cho didn’t know better, Esme and Rosalie seemed a tad squiffy themselves.

“I did not realize vampires were able to get tipsy,” Cho said slowly and carefully.

The two vamps glanced at each other. Esme nodded to Rosalie. The latter woman made a face of resignation and took a generous gulp of merlot before speaking.

“Other substances found in the blood that we drink can still affect us, to some degree,” Rosalie spoke with ease. “We’re cutting out the middleman.”

“Like a bloody mary without tomato juice,” Esme added, looking at the bottom of her own glass.

Cho blinked. “So… just vodka.”

“Weak vodka.” Rosalie downed the rest of her glass. “I can drink Emmett under the table.”

_ Whewww, vampires are wiiild _ , Cho thought.

Esme and Rosalie erupted in laughter.

 

* * *

 

_ There was still something she could do. _

_ Cho waited until they returned to their booth. The sight of her omelette nearly distracted her from her mission. _

_ “Ahm eh heav’n,” said Cho with two mouthfuls of cheesy egg and sausage. _

_ Cedric took a moment to admire the ravenous sight with an incredulous smile. “I know I am.” _

_ When she was almost finished with her omelette, Cho glanced over at the truckers’ table. _

_ “Don’t look at them,” Cedric hissed. _

_ Cho hunched over her plate. “They’re still there,” she whispered. “Blimey, you didn’t have to snap—” _

_ “Literally the hairiest one is about to get up. I’m going to be sick.” _

_ Perfect. “Not if I can help it.” _

_ Distant heavy footsteps sounded against sticky tile floor. _

_ Cho pretended to dab her mouth with a napkin and held it over her lips. Her fingertip drew a serpentine line against the table. _

_ “Locomotor Wibbly,” she whispered. _

_ A loud crash of broken glass and something heavy hitting the floor. _

_ Cho gasped and looked over: The grizzly trucker was trying to get up off the floor, but his boot-cut denim legs were horribly and uncontrollably shaking. His other trucker friends waddled over to him. _

_ “Did you just…?” Cedric uttered. _

_ “Mhm.” Cho nodded, now patting her lips. _

_ Cedric blinked. “Without your wand?” _

_ “Mmmmhm.” She neatly set her fork and knife on her plate. “I’m not a fifth year at Hogwarts anymore, Diggory.” _

_ “Marry me.” _

_ Cho gaped at him. She reached across the table and squeezed Cedric’s left hand hard until she could feel his wedding ring. _

_ “That’s mildly discomforting at worst.” Cedric shook his head. _

_ “You can’t even mildly joke about that!” Cho spat back. “Not while you’re wearing  _ that! _ ” _

_ Cedric yanked his hand away. He quickly retrieved a large bill from his billfold and left it on the table. Then he took back Cho’s hand. _

_ “I’m not done with you,” Cho insisted. _

_ “Come on,” Cedric hushed and led her out of the booth. “Let’s get away from these dolts.” _

_ Cho walked a beat behind Cedric. Her hand was clammy against his cool palm. _

_ “And where are you taking me,  _ Edward? _ ” she said louder, more exasperated. _

_ His stupidly moussed hair bounced as he turned to look at her with an unexpectedly serene, faint smile. A face of someone who found a beloved’s anger endearing but without relishing in their pain; a face of someone clinging to a small piece of hope. _

_ “A meadow.” _

 

* * *

 

Cho shut off the faucet. She caught herself in the bathroom mirror.

A smudge of red wine still lingered at the corner of her mouth.

Her eyes absently stared at themselves as her fingertips touched the now-sticky merlot on her flushed skin. The golden lightbulbs in the mirror frame made her perspiring skin glow and reveal matching rose splotches around her collarbone that, if someone didn’t know she was drunk, resembled faded hickeys. Muffled echoes of the baby grand piano filled the dark marble walls of the bathroom. She was encased in her thoughts and in sound. She was very much alone.

“What are we doing here?” Cho thought aloud.

 

* * *

 

_ “What are we doing here?” _

_ The highway road had ended. They sat in her car for a few moments of frustrating, confused silence. Cho looked at Cedric. This time, he insisted on taking the wheel. _

_ “Sitting,” he answered. _

_ Cho clenched her fists. “Cedric Byron Diggory—” _

_ “And listening to your angry heart beat.” _

_ Cho stopped herself. She sat back in her seat and slowed her breath. In through the nose; out through her lips. In. Out. _

_ “I feel guilty for bringing you here, but I didn’t know where else to go.” Cedric contemplated the smooth surface of the steering wheel. He sank into his chair. “There’s no place that doesn’t have memories tied to it. Even here.” _

_ Cho looked around: The highway they’d just barreled down ended at the edge of a forest; the earth seemed to reclaim its space and faded the pavement with green. They were parked at the start of an unmarked trail that almost escaped Cho’s notice if she hadn’t been desperately looking for significance in their current location. _

_ “What’s special about this meadow?” Cho asked. _

_ Cedric didn’t answer. He had, somehow, gotten out of the car and opened Cho’s door before she even noticed he’d moved or even unbuckled her seatbelt. He held out his hand to her. _

_ Cho took his hand. At this point, asking any more questions got her fewer answers. _

_ They held hands along the trail. Cho forgot how cold his hand was with the cool air around them. They never let go. If she closed her eyes, she could almost imagine the two of them strolling down one of the main breezeways at Hogwarts. Hand in hand, breathing in fresh, cold air that blew through the ancient stone walls... _

_ They stopped. Thick grass crunched under her boots. _

_ Cho opened her eyes. _

_ She was speechless. _

_ “I wish I could have shown you this sooner,” Cedric said. “If only the quad had been this beautiful.” _

_ He pulled her into the small wildflower paradise. His skin glittered in the thin streams of sunlight. _

_ Cho gasped. “Vampires...sparkle. Huh.” _

_ Cedric winced. “Science can explain it, believe it or not.” _

_ Cho’s chest felt warm and full with awe. “It’s beautiful.” _

_ They walked to the center of the meadow. Here, Cedric let go of Cho’s hand.  _

_ “I used to come here just to hear my own thoughts. Before I met...Bella. Then I brought her here.” _

_ They gazed at the peppered daisies and coneflowers around them for a few more silent, reverent moments. _

_ “Bella,” Cho said. “Bella, Bella, Bella, Bella, Bella.” _

_ Cedric whipped around. Light glinted off his skin like reflections of diamond refractions, highlighting the alarm on his face. _

_ “I get it now.” Cho smiled. “I get it, Ced.” She looked at him. “It's not too late to start over. Forget the past. Forget the pain.” She stepped out and gazed up at the green leaves interspersed with bright sunlight. “If this was your sanctuary, it’s still yours now.” She reached back and pulled her wand from her holster. “The places, the memories. They’re what you make it. Your life is still in your hands.” _

_ She swished and flicked her wand. Nothing happened. Yet. _

_ Cedric looked at his palm. Reluctantly, he pulled off his wedding ring. _

_ Cho looked back - her heart sank. _

_ “Is it?” Cedric asked, looking at the gold circlet. “It’s only felt like life has been dealing me losing hands, and I keep making the same mistakes. I don’t know what a life of my own feels like anymore.” _

_ He knelt down and started pulling at the wild grass, digging a small, shallow hole in the soil with his fingers. _

_ Cho knelt down in front of Cedric. _

_ “Bella still holds a special part of my heart,” Cedric murmured. “Nessie, too. Dear Nessie. If I had two hearts, Renesmee would fill them both. She’ll grow so fast. She won’t need me.” _

_ He looked at the ring once more. Then he planted the gold circlet into the soil and buried it. _

_ “This is for the best.” _

_ Cho felt tears welling in her eyes. Dammit, not now, she thought. _

_ “Your soul sings to mine, Cho. That much I know.” Cedric looked up at her. “As many memories as we have, I feel like we’d only just begun to recognize what we shared before our time was cut short.” _

_ Tears dropped on the wildflower pedals. _

_ “I never thought this could happen,” Cho murmured. _

_ Cedric reached out and held Cho, one hand on her cheek, the other on her waist. _

_ “I want nothing more than to start over—with you. Starting today. If you’ll have me.” _

_ Cho’s hands fell to her sides. She dropped her wand in the grass. She wanted to melt. _

_ “Yes.” Cho nodded. Tears mixed with her words. “Oh yes, please.” _

_ He kissed her. _

_ Their lips together felt like ice against warm summer skin. She kissed him back slowly, drinking in this strange, new sensation. His bottom lip somehow still felt the same moving against hers. Waves of soft, familiar skin that both cooled and ignited her.  _

_ He held her close to him. She held on. _

_ They fell into the growing abundance of new wildflowers that had started to bloom around them. _

 

 

* * *

 

 

Someone new was holding Cho’s hand. Smooth skin like the bottom of her pillow.

“Hey, sleeping beauty.”

Cho rolled over and felt a woman’s body against her own.

Her eyes flew open: she couldn’t bring herself to move away from the wily look on Alice’s face.

“Blimey, I fell asleep again?” Cho asked, a bit groggy.

“No shame in some extra z’s.” Alice rolled to her back. She didn’t let go of Cho’s hand.

“Well, drinking does put me to sleep.”

“You were definitely dozing off after dinner.” She gently stroked Cho’s hand with her thumb. “I came back as soon as I could before Esme and Rosalie went out to hunt. Bella and I were in the city to see a show.”

Cho gulped. “Where’s Bella now?”

Alice’s eyes pondered the ceiling. “She went with Esme and Rose.” Her voice seemed quieter. 

Their hotel room was dim with a muted lavender, almost gray wallpaper that hid behind pretty but nondescript framed art often seen in such hotels, even as nice as this one. Their shared queen-sized bed felt somehow softer than even the one in the cottage. The windows were still dark, so perhaps it was much later in the night, Cho guessed. She noticed her knitted cap - a splash of color against the gray - now lodged under the top of her pillow from being tossed there before dinner - before she returned to her back and closed her eyes.

“I’m so torn,” Alice murmured.

Cho slowed her breathing, pretending to fall back asleep. She breathed in and smelled a faint but present aroma of wine that was more than just remnants on her own breath. She tried her hardest to keep her hand relaxed, forcing herself not to hold Alice’s hand in the same gentle cradle.

“This whole thing has been a huge mess, hasn’t it?” Alice asked.

Cho breathed. “Mmmh.”

“Jasper was so terribly rude when you first came over. But I blame myself.” She continued to stroke the back of Cho’s hand. “Cedric used to talk about you so much when he first moved in with us - did you know that? It used to make Jasper so jealous. And I…”

Alice squeezed her hand.

Cho opened her eyes. She couldn’t pretend anymore.

Alice sighed. “I fell in love.”


	7. Finíte

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _Alice cradled Cho’s hand in both her own pallid hands._   
>  _“Don’t you realize how strong, resilient, and beautiful you are?”_   
>  _Cho laughed._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for the feedback on the last chapter! A quick disclaimer: the chapter title in no way means the end of the story, just to clear any potential confusion. Thanks again and enjoy~

**Two weeks before.**

 

 

“Oh, Merlin.” Cho buried her face in Cedric’s chest.

“What is it now?” he asked, laughing.

“I just had a horrible thought.”

“Spill it.”

“I think the last time I laid on top of you, you were dead.”

His fingers tickled her in the soft of her waist.

“Ahahahahahstopit, it’s true!” Cho squirmed against him.

Cedric cringed, but he smiled nonetheless. “I’m very much alive right now.”

Cho smirked. “I can tell.”

Cedric raised his brows.

He held her waist with one hand and rolled her over in the tall grass. His other hand cradled the back of her head. He brushed back her hair behind her ear, his hand finally resting at her cheek.

“You’re very much alive, too, you know,” he murmured.

Cho bit her lip. She lay underneath a fantasy version of the boy she loved. She still couldn’t believe they were together in this dreamscape. She was almost afraid of waking up from this moment.

Her face softened. Her heart was full.

“And I couldn't be happier,” Cho murmured.

She bit her lip. She raised her mouth to his.

And Cho was home.

It was so hard to stop kissing him. Cedric pulled away just to give Cho moments to breathe, but she could tell he didn’t want to stop either. It felt like they were teenagers again, discovering each other in a new way; yet how they clung to each other in their fervor for all the time they lost.

She felt Cedric’s hand gripped at her waist, stroking down to her hip, felt how carefully he tried not to squeeze her too hard. His fingertips flirted with the skin above her waistband. Her hips moved against him in response.

Cho briefly opened her eyes before she was blinded by the glittering surface of Cedric’s neck.

_Jesus, he’s like a diamond. Hard like one, too._

She closed her eyes and sank her lips into the crook of his neck. His skin felt tougher than normal, but she could still work her magic.

Cedric struggled to keep his weight off her. He was paralyzed with pleasure. Cho could hear soft gasps escape his mouth.

“Who’s the vampire now?” Cho purred into his skin.

She opened her eyes again - then quickly winced.

“Shite, my eyes,” Cho hissed.

Cedric sat up, palming the side of his neck where she’d kissed him.

“Are you alright?” he asked, concerned.

Cho hesitated. She laid back, eyes clenched, and rested her arm over her eyes.

“I’ll be frank, Diggory: I want to shag you right here and now, but your sparkling is blinding me.

She heard him heave a sigh. “Truly, it’s a curse. Damn high noon.”

Cho simpered. “Maybe we could go into the back of the car.”

Cedric snickered. “I don’t want our first time to be in the backseat of a bloody Volvo.”

Cho’s face contorted in mental debate with herself, before she sat up and opened her eyes just a little: Cedric now sat in the wild grass, his arms rested on his knees. An aura of faint, shimmering light radiated from him in her squinted vision.

Cho leaned back, her hands nestled in the grass. She took a moment to fiddle with the leaves of a poppy flower beside her.

“We almost shagged in the prefect bathroom.” Cho grinned, glancing at the poppy flower. “Remember that? It was so embarrassing. Not much more ideal of a place.”

“A tad less,” Cedric admitted.

“But I needed you then,” Cho murmured, almost whispered.

“No shame in that. ” Cedric plucked a pedal from the coneflower next to him. “I don’t remember how we ended up there. Do you?”

Cho thought about it, rolling the poppy between her fingers. “I still couldn’t sleep a week after the second task, even after we started cuddling. On top of spring exams, I was a zombie. Your friends in the common room said you’d gone for a bath before bed, and you’d told me about the prefect bathroom before. I felt like falling apart.”

Cedric’s sparkling hand came into view and rested on her knee.

“Now that I think about it, I was overreacting,” Cho’s voice shook nervously.

Cho touched his hand. The faintest rays of light reflected on her fingertips.

“Maybe,” Cedric said. “But I couldn’t refuse you. You needed me; and I wanted you.”

“You were always hesitant to take things further, though,” Cho said, studying the lines of his knuckles. “Not that I never enjoyed it. But why?”

Cedric looked morosely at the pedal he’d plucked before he let it drop into the grass.

“I wanted our first time to be special,” Cedric murmured. “As old-fashioned as that sounds.”

He upturned his hand and held Cho’s.

“And frankly...I wanted to marry you.”

A bittersweet wave crashed into Cho, lifting her heart and sinking it just the same. Another reminder of what could have been. How would he have proposed to her? Would her parents have finally warmed up to the idea of Cedric? Would they have had a ceremony, or just sodded it all and eloped? Into what houses would their kids have been sorted? It was a life neither of them would ever know.

“Really?” Cho asked, breathlessly.

Cedric hunched, his face turning bashful. “Well, after graduating, waiting for you to graduate, and then getting our dream jobs as professional Quidditch players first. None of that matters now, of course.” He looked Cho in the eye, taking a moment, unsure and perhaps afraid to go on. He then smiled. “But at some moment out of the blue while we were together, I remember thinking: I could see myself marrying her. Crazy, right?”

Cho felt happy tears behind her eyes. She swallowed them back and simply smiled, feeling the warmth in her chest and the tenderness in Cedric’s hand.

“Am I really blinding you?” Cedric asked.

Cho squinted and nodded. “I still love you, though.”

Cedric’s eyes widened, as did his smile. “You love me now?”

Cho gasped. She covered her mouth with her other hand. “NoIdon’t.”

“Oh. Don’t get a man’s hopes up. Come on.” Cedric pulled her and himself up to their feet. “Let’s go home and unblind you. Don’t forget your wand.”

Cho retrieved her wand, along with a small keepsake bouquet of wildflowers. There was a lovely owl-shaped vase she just remembered that needed some fresh flowers.

Cedric held her hand as they walked away from the heavenly meadow and returned to the shaded path. They walked in peaceful quiet for a few minutes, sharing the sounds of the forest that filled the silence.

“You love me,” Cedric grinned.

Cho squeezed his hand. “Perhaps.”

 

 

* * *

 

 

**Now.**

 

 

Alice sighed. “I fell in love.”

_No. This can’t be happening._

Without warning, Alice turned over, pulling Cho closer.

_Oh Merlin, is this actually happening?_

“Who was this magical girl who put the light back in a boy who’d been killed in cold blood?” Alice mused.

Cho only felt herself feeling hotter despite how cool Alice felt through the fabric of Cho’s clothes, which suddenly felt thin as paper. She could feel her pulse racing throughout her whole body.

_Why is this happening? Why couldn’t this happen in another alternate universe? Why now?_

“Who could be the source of such pure love and inspire seemingly endless praise and gratitude for being alive amidst such sorrow? And then—I saw you in a vision. That day at the record store. I couldn’t tell Cedric, not with everything happening with Bella and Nessie. I knew it had to be you. I was so giddy at the thought of finally meeting you. He made you sound incredible—and you _are._ ”

Alice cradled Cho’s hand in both her own pallid hands.

“Don’t you realize how strong, resilient, and beautiful you are?”

Cho laughed.

She laughed in a hopeless attempt to extinguish the mood and to hide her own anxiety. She thought of completely mundane moments with Marietta that somehow stirred feelings in Cho she sometimes wished didn’t exist. Moments like this with every girl Cho was too afraid to approach but still longed to be noticed by...noticed in a way she wasn’t always willing to admit to be true.

And now she was in bed with a woman.

Alice’s face fell. “Cho, I’m serious.”

Cho’s heart sank. She scrunched her eyes shut. She couldn’t look at her. “I’m sorry. Forgive me, please.”

“That...really hurt.” For a moment, Alice’s eyes appeared a darker shade of gold, along with a glossier sheen, as if she were about to cry.

“You’re giving me way too much credit, Alice. You have me mistaken for a deity.” Cho opened one eye. “I only use magic. _I’m_ not magic.”

There was that childlike excitement back in Alice’s eyes. Cho’s hand was still cradled in Alice’s. They were facing each other, laying on their sides, settled in their hotel bed.

“You’re still cute,” Alice said. “That you can’t deny.”

Cho smelled the wine even stronger now. “And you’re drunk.”

Alice pecked Cho’s hand. Her kiss was like a first snowflake fallen on her skin. Her lips were a smudged shade of crimson.

“Dammit, you’re cute, too,” Cho sighed.

“I shouldn’t be here, but Esme insisted I stay with you,” Alice murmured.

“You’re a saint.”

Pale white fingertips touched the beating skin of Cho’s neck.

“You’re warm. Your heart’s racing,” Alice whispered. “Are you alright?”

Cho found it hard to breathe. “It’s not every day I’m—” Cho gulped. “ _—this_ close with a woman.”

Alice moved in closer.

_Cedric._

“And I shouldn’t,” Cho whispered.

“You shouldn’t.” Alice moved closer still.

Cho winced. She tried to push against Alice’s hardened skin.

“I really shouldn’t, Alice.”

A horrible thought crossed Cho’s mind: why couldn’t she have met someone like Alice before seeing Cedric again? Then Cho shoved that thought deep, deep down into the dark crevice from which it came.

“It doesn’t have to mean anything,” Alice murmured, shrugging.

“What do you mean?” Cho arched a brow.

“I know how much you care about Cedric. And as much as I care about you, and I _really_ do…”

Alice’s lips moved to Cho’s ear.

“...we’re both here now out of curiosity, aren’t we?” the vampire whispered.

Cho scoffed. “I’m not _curious_. I’m well aware of my inclinations.”

“As am I,” Alice murmured. “But neither of us have had the pleasure of having each other. Wouldn’t you like to know how that feels?”

_God, do I._

“No,” Cho said firmly.

Cho quickly sat up and moved to the edge of the bed. She flicked on the nightstand light; sure enough, the alarm clock face read 2:33 AM. _Lovely_ , Cho thought. She gripped the edge of the bed and took a moment to breathe, her eyes blankly resting on the carpet.

Hot tears started to form in her eyes.

“I can’t. Not in good conscience.”

Alice crawled across the bed and perched herself next to Cho.

“God, am I going to cry again? My emotions _leak_ from my eyes like a bubbling fucking cauldron. I hate it so much.” Cho didn’t bother to wipe her face from the oncoming rivulets. She clenched the bedsheet. “I can’t...I can’t deal with this. All I wanted was to find my own way and be happy on my own for once in my life.”

Droplets fell on her lap. Her temples felt heavy, the onset of a full hangover come sunrise.

Alice’s pale hand turned Cho’s face to hers.

“I’m so tired,” Cho whimpered.

She saw Alice’s face: a mottled oil painting with a sad smile behind Cho’s curtain of tears.

Alice slowly pulled Cho into that sad, seraphic smile.

“I love him,” Cho murmured, “but…”

Cho closed her eyes.

She felt the warm tears on her cheek pressed against Alice’s crisp lips.

Alice kissed Cho’s cheeks; her forehead; her jawbone. The tears continued to flow.

“You poor thing,” Alice whispered. “Feel better.”

She pressed her lips against Cho’s.

Cho let it happen.

She tasted her own tears against Alice’s lips, bitter and cold. Alice’s lips were small, tentative, gentle.

It wasn’t until Cho kissed her back that Alice kissed back harder.

She felt Alice’s hands linger at the nape of her neck and slowly, slowly caress down, then up, to Cho’s breasts.

Cho heard herself moan. She felt utterly helpless. But she didn’t want to fight it either.

She held Alice’s head in her hands, her fingers buried in her pixie-length hair.

 _What are you doing?_ Cho thought.

Then the door opened.

“Alice?”

Alice pushed Cho away, an oddly gentle gesture, like a child putting her doll aside.

Cho looked and gasped. _Fuck._

Bella stood at the doorway. She slowly shook her head. A look of pure scorn.

“Is Cedric not enough for you?” Bella snarled.

Alice hopped from the bed. “Bella, don’t.”

“No.” Bella was visibly, lividly shaking. She took a step closer.

“It’s not her fault,” Alice insisted. “I knew this would happen. I started it; I didn’t stop it.”

“Neither did I,” Cho said calmly. “It is partly my fault.”

Bella advanced toward them.

Cho whipped out her wand from its holster. “Stop.”

Bella instinctively held out a hand. “I’ll stop you first.”

“There’s no _need_ , Bella,” Alice insisted.

Cho shook her head. “We’re not doing this. I may have kissed her, but I still love Cedric. That will never change.”

_It wasn’t worth it at all._

“This isn’t worth fighting over.” Hot tears crept in the corner of Cho’s eyes. She glanced at the floor. “I’ll deal with the consequences myself.”

She looked back up at an angry Bella.

“I’m sorry.” Cho started walking to toward the door, wand still at the ready. “I’m leaving, Alice.”

“No!” Cho heard Alice behind her. “Please, Cho. We can talk through this.”

Bella’s face twisted in a contemptuous grin at Cho. “Like hell you are.”

She lunged for the witch.

“ _Petrificustotalus!_ ” Cho cast swiftly and without thought.

Bella dropped to the floor with a thunderous CRASH - her arms stiff as if glued to her sides and her legs just as rigid.

“Cho,” Alice uttered. "I may have seen that coming...but what did you  _do_ _?_ "

Bella growled, a horrible, muffled sound from behind locked jaws, shut tight by the spell.

“I didn’t hurt her, I promise,” Cho said. “I wasn’t even thinking. Oh, God. Battling Death Eaters will do that.” Cho’s hand trembled, still firmly grasping her wand. “I have to leave now.”

Cho walked to the door. Her hand was almost on the knob.

“Wait! Your hat,” Alice cried, a last attempt. Why she didn’t simply run after the witch was beyond Cho. Maybe Alice couldn’t. _Not with an incapacitated vampire between us, I suppose._

Cho winced. “You can have my bloody hat.” She didn’t look back.

When the door SLAMMED behind her, Cho lifted her wand and whispered, “ _Finíte_.”

She could hear a blood-curdling yell from Bella, quickly followed by a cooful Alice.

Cho re-holstered her wand. She marched down the curved hallway, inadvertently taking the long way to the lift. Whatever. How much would a three-hour taxi drive back to Forks be at this hour? Cho didn’t fucking care at this point. She’d find a way.

_I did not sign up for this. Jinxed parchment is a daydream compared to this._

She jammed the lift key. No one else seemed to be coming for her. Not one vampire. Not even Esme or Rosalie. They had the right idea of staying out of whatever the hell just happened. _Probably getting more pissed at the hotel pub. I hope they are._ Cho stomped into the lift.

Inside, she slid down to the floor, her back against the glass.

Alice booked their rooms at nearly the highest level simply for the view. Alice. Alice was handsy. Much like Cedric. What would Cedric think? What did Cedric see in Bella? What would Cedric _think_? Cedric. Dear God, Cedric.

Cho had plenty of time to cry some more.

 

* * *

 

The doors of the lift opened.

Cho’s ears perked.

She could hear the piano, echoing softly from the lobby.

The melody was much more subdued than earlier - almost somber, yet slowly revealing hopeful notes, with brief but beautifully harmonized flourishes along the way. Cho was sure she had heard it before, but she couldn’t remember when or from where. The closer she approached the lobby, the piano naturally crescendoed, although the melody itself flirted between its own _pianissimo_ and _forte_. Cho slowed her steps just to relish the melody a little longer from afar. She wiped her tears and smiled. Whoever was playing knew how to paint with sound, with a gentle hand and even more delicate fingers.

Cho entered the lobby; she saw the baby grand across the room. And the pale, bronze-haired, statuesque pianist who graced its keys.

Her smile faded.

“Cedric?”


End file.
